


I call dibs on your heart

by victoriabloods



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Angst, Adrien Agreste Knows, Adrien Has a Crush on Marinette, Bad Decisions, Bad Jokes, Bad Puns, Cat Ears, Cat Puns, Christmas, Christmas Presents, Crying, Diabetes, Disappointment, Dork Adrien Agreste, Drama, F/M, French Kissing, Heart-to-Heart, Identity Reveal, Leather, Love Confessions, Love Triangles, Love/Hate, Magic-Users, Making Love, Minor Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Mistaken Identity, Mistakes, Nervousness, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, One-Sided Attraction, POV Third Person, Protective Chat Noir, Puppy Love, Revelations, Running Away, Secret Crush, Secret Identity, Secrets, Silly, Sins, Teenage Drama, Unrequited Love, Vacation, Young Love, love square
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-07-26 21:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7590433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoriabloods/pseuds/victoriabloods
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>France's most adored duo had fought the most wrecked villans and purified way too many Akumas for a long time. By now, Lady Bug and Chat Noir were way ahead of Hawkmoth's evil plan. But after a heavy week of fighting, the akumas had disappeared and so did the sudden class ditching, silly excuses and their naps in the middle off Burgoise's class. It was clear, Hawkmoth had dissapeared for a little while.  But an unexpected problem with Chat Noir  took Ladybug by surprise, making her realize her feelings towards him. In the other hand, as for Adrien, The new bond he now had with Marinette would make him notice her in a different way now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. On that day

Marinette woke up to the sound of Mrs. Bustier's angry voice demanding her attention. Still drowsy, Marinette proceeded with her nap, without realizing, she was actually in school.

"Dupeing-cheng, this is the second warning" The teacher called Marinette from her desk. "I understand that you're tired but this is not the time or place"

Alya, who sat besides our protagonist patted Marinette's shoulder, trying to wake her up.

"What's wrong with you girl? You're gonna get in trouble again." Alya said in a low but concerned tone for only her friend to hear.

"Dupeing-cheng! This is it. Go to the office. NOW" Mrs.Bustier demanded as she stood up from her desk.

Raising her head, our hero woke up suddenly and harshly. She opened her eyes, taking a minute to realize where she was. She saw her teacher looking at her directly, with her arms crossed glazing through her soul. Mrs. Bustier was one of the most gentle teachers, but even she had a limit.

Marinette opened her eyes in shock as she realized what was happening , quickly cleaning up the drool in her cheek with her hand as she stood up to apologize.

"M-Mrs. Bustier, I-Im sorry, I didn't even notice I was asleep. I- I...." she stood quietly, as she saw her teacher's look of disapproval. It was the 3rd time this week Marinette had slept in class. And let's not even talk about of how many times she arrived late to school in the whole semester. The class laughed at Marinette's ridiculous reaction, and of course, Chloe couldn't hold her comments.

" By now, that book had to be covered in drool" she gossiped to Sabrina, but in a high tone. Obviously, everyone heard.

"ugh, gross" Sabrina laughed

"Enough" Mrs. Bustier raised her voice and everyone stopped laughing and talking. "I want everybody to open page 186 and read chapter 8 and 9. Chloe, start reading outloud the first 5 pages, then pass it around to the next student."her tone was sharp and direct. " As for you Marinette, let's go outside."

"Agh. This is all that pigtailed's fault" Chloe complained as she opened the book with attitude.

Alya held her best friend's arm, trying to give some comfort as she smiled at her to cheer up Marinette, who was of course, not having her best day.

Marinette smiled back and took her things, leaving the class. The teacher followed her outside and looked at Marinette with a tired look. They stopped by the hall, in front of the classroom door.

"Cheng, this is not like you." The teacher spoke in a more gentle tone now. Our blue eyed girl was ashamed of course, but how could she explain that she busy most of the time. Specially in the night, saving Paris and fighting off evil akumas? Instead of defending herself, Marinette bit her lip to hold in her thoughts.

"I don't know what's happening with you lately, but you need to focus. You're in high school now. This is not a game." Her teacher's look was sincere, she meant no harm in her words.

"I know Mrs. Bustier, I'll get back on track. I promise. " Marinette lowered her gaze, wondering if she would even maintain that promise. It was impossible for her, specially now that she was Ladybug.

The red haired teacher sighed. "Alright, I'll give you one more chance. But stay outside just until French class ends. I won't send you to the office, not today. But don't say a word about this to your classmates."

Grateful, Marinette smiled at her. "Thank you, really! I'll try my best."

The redhead responded with a smile and left back to her class.

Marinette, relieved, continued to walk tiredly to the locker area to get her bag. Perhaps the most intelligent idea right now was to study a bit in the library and have some solo time. The hall was empty, so she opened her purse and checked on Tikki who was quite unstill.

"That was a close one." The big eyed kwami looked at her with her adorable smile, still inside the purse, just in case somebody would walk in the hall.

"Yea Tikki... But it's getting harder and harder to keep up with all this Hawkmoth drama. He needs a hobby... Recently, he has been akumazing people 24/7" Marinette paused and yawned. "I wonder if Chat is struggling too..."

Tikki giggled suddenly, making Marinette curious.

"What?" She smiled at her kwami.

Still giggling, Tiki answered playfully. "Oh nothing~ Is just rare that you're worrying about Chat Noir. Or that you're talking about him without complaining at least."

Marinette smiled a bit melancholic, and before she could answer at Tikki's insinuation, she heard the echo of a voice as she entered the locker room. Quickly closing her purse to hide Tikki, she continued to walk in. Immediately noticing a certain blonde looking inside his locker. It was Adrien Agreste, the boy who Marinette was head over heels for. The image of perfection for her, although at the moment, he looked absolutely tired. But in Mari's eyes, he was looking as handsome as ever.

Adrien nervously laughed as he closed his locker to hide Plagg. But of course, clumsy Marinette would've never noticed. She was too busy shaking up and being nervous.

Adrien eased up from the scare and smiled at his classmate casually.

"You're late too Marinette? It's good to know I'm not the only one." He laughed as he got a bit closer to casually talk with her. He didn't know much about her, apart from the obvious things like, how talented she was in designing, and that she usually hung out with Alya. Actually, she hung out with mostly everyone. She seemed kind and sweet. Sadly, they never seemed to have the opportunity to talk much. Perhaps she was still mad about the fist day of school when the whole gum incident happen. Or who knew? But he was certainly not finding out today. Marinette stood there awkwardly, she literally froze for a bit.

"Late? Hahaha No I-I'm ah, sleep, I mean. No, no I felled a-asleep in class and and and y-yeah" Marinette tried to hide her blush, luckily for her, Adrien never noticed her feelings.

Honestly, Adrien didn't understand a single word of what she said. But he had in mind what happened. Recently, he noticed she would fall asleep in most of the classes, and how she got late to school sometimes. He couldn't judge, he wasn't in his right mind either. Most of the time he could pull out the 'I was in a photoshoot' card to his teacher. But really, he had been sleeping off all the action he had as Chat Noir. Actually, he had been sleeping off last night's drama, today wasn't his best day. But he didn't want to think about that right now.

"Ah yea." He smiled awkwardly, but he tried to be gentle.

Marinette smiled back at him.

"I don't think I should enter to class right now. Mrs. Bustier would probably kick me out anyways." He yawned a bit, and covered his mouth as he did so.

Marinette yawned too, causing her eyes to get a bit watery.

"Yeah, probably." Her eyes were a bit heavy. "I was heading to the library actually." Marinette was impressed of how she could manage to say a complete sentence in front of him. And she didn't sound so retarded, that was a plus.

Adrien was surprised that Marinette would invite him to hang. Well, that wasn't an actually an invitation, but sounded like it. Nino sometimes would talk about Marinette, of course. Adrien knew It was because Nino used to crush on Marinette. But at the end, he suddenly began crushing on Alya. All he'd heard about her would left him curious. Even when he spoke to her as Chat Noir, she acted different. He actually noticed that perhaps she had a problem with Adrien.

"That sounds like a good Idea" He smirked "Perhaps I should join you, I've been behind class recently."

Marinette felt like strangely comfortable talking to him, which was actually weird.

"S-sure. sounds good." Marinette relaxed a bit and smiled.

Opening his locker, Adrien grabbed his bag, together with a few things before they headed to the library. After leaving the lockers, with each step, Marinette would tremble. She was not quite sure if the reason was the lack of sleep. Adrien walked by her side, quite tired as well.

"Not a good night huh?" he asked , finding humor in her tired behavior.

"The worst." She answered without thinking twice.

"Yeah... Me too" He mentioned as well, feeling a bit troubled.

A sudden flashback of last night crossed her mind. Actually, a flashback of her partner. Chat Noir.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Pound it." Ladybug and Chat Noir said at the same time as they fist bumped. Three akumas in the same day, now that was a record. Chat Noir laughed tiredly as he sat in the floor of the alley where they were standing. Ladybug sighed as she sat besides him. Of course, she was going to leave soon, because of the time limit. But she couldn't help staying for a couple seconds.

Chat noir yawned, in a funny way actually. He would stick his tongue out as he closed his eyes. Ladybug laughed as she looked at him.

"Seems like Hawkmoth is quite in a mood lately" he opened his eyes and looked back at ladybug, with a smirk in his face.

"Ya' think?" She replied. "I would appreciate a few days off. Being a superhero has become quite tiresome."

"Un-furr-tunately, this is a 24/7 hour job." He pouted a bit. After some quick seconds, Chat looked at Ladybug with curiosity. "It's weird that you haven't run off yet." With a chuckle, he proceeded with his usual smooth talk. "Unless, of course...you wanted to stay with me a bit more."

Ladybug laughed and rolled her eyes. "Ah, keep dreaming kitty." She looked up to the sky and saw how dark it was.

As she got lost in her thoughts, Chat Noir watched her. Wondering, what could be running inside his lady's mind. He extended his arm to touch her hair, with a gentle caress his fingers ran through her hair. Ladybug looked down to Chat's direction. Surprisingly, she didn't stopped him from playing with her hair.

"You have a unique hair color." He said thoughtfully. "Do you think that if we see each other in real life... We would recognize each other?" his tone was soft and serious, not like he usually spoke. Not at all.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I'll have to run if we do" she laughed, but immediately stopped as she noticed, Chat wasn't being his usual self. "Are you okay?" Ladybug looked at him, concerned.

"I uhm... not really." He looked at her completely, appreciating his view. Admiring her, asking himself if she would ever be his. He knew that soon enough, she would run off to god knows where and he won't be able to talk to her until a new akuma appeared. Even so, it wasn't everyday that he had the chance to talk to her in peace. "I..I, how can I say this... "

Ladybug knew what he was going to say next. Her heart skipped a bit as he looked at her completely, making her feel nervous. Her cheeks started to take bright shade of red. No, she couldn't let him finish off. It wasn't right. She already liked someone else. She did... she really does. Those words rang in her mind in repeat. Almost like she was trying to make herself believe them.

"Ladybug I..." he was interrupted by the beep in his ring.

"woops, looks like is time for us to part ways. Wouldn't want to accidentally reveal our identities to each other wouldn't we? Haha" Ladybug stood up quickly with a nervous laugh, and before she could take out her miraculous yoyo to run away... Chat stopped her. His hand held her arm tightly, but she could feel that he was trembling.

"I don't care" he answered plainly.

"what..?" she looked back at him.

"I don't care if you see who I am. Ladybug, I trust you... In fact I" he was interrupted again.

"stop.." Ladybug roughly took the hand that was holding her and brushed it off, she didn't meant for that to look so rude but her heart was beating really fast, she was nervous. She didn't understand why. It's Chat Noir, her companion, the silly one, the one who she would always tease. Confused, she looked forward, to hide her facial expression.

"I'll go now." Ladybug finished off, leaving Chat alone in that dark alley.

She left just in time before his transformation ran off, he was back to his old self. Back to Adrien Agreste. Sitting back again in the floor, with a wall behind him, he stayed there. Thoughtful. Perhaps, it was time to cut off that one-sided crush he had...

~~~~~~

*In the present...

Marinette sat in the library, and began to take out some books, placing them on the table. Adrien did the same, as he gazed what Marinette was doing. Suddenly, Marinette's expression showed sadness. She couldn't stop thinking about Chat Noir.

Adrien noticed the sudden mood change, but he decided not to ask.

"You didn't do the history assignment either?" His eyes gazed over all over Marinette, curiously.

"uh? Yeah. I didn't do it." With her hand in her cheek, to hold the weight of her head, she looked at the big history book which she had to work on. "Perhaps we could start doing it now." Her gaze was concentrated on the book as she still thought of Chat. Of how serious he was, how honest he was being, and how she didn't even give him the chance to speak.

Adrien looked at his own history book. "yeah, Let's start." As he opened the book, he started looking for the page of the assignment. But he suddenly stopped in a page where some Egyptian art was showed. He remembered that one time he fought a with ladybug in the museum versus that Egyptian akuma. Adrien's chest hurt from just thinking about her.

They both started to read the required chapter for history class and they remained silent. Marinette tried to stay awake, this was a special opportunity for her. She couldn't let her sleepiness or bad memories ruin her only chance with Adrien. She kept with her lecture, until she unconsciously fell asleep. After a while, Adrien stopped reading and looked at Marinette. Her face shoved in the book, and her lips open, letting a bit of drool out.

"You really are something, aren't you Marinette?" Without holding it in, Adrien laughed. How could she fall asleep so clumsily after only some minutes of studying? He tried to control his laughter to not wake her up, but he couldn't help it. Taking off his own white unbuttoned shirt, he covered her up. Leaving him with the black shirt he had underneath. As Adrien continued with his lecture, it wasn't long before he fell asleep too.

...

Adrien woke up to Nino's voice, lifting his head from the book, and with a page sticked to his cheek.

"Dude, you missed all the morning classes. I've been texting you all morning" Nino said worried, but then he noticed Marinette waking up and uncovering her head from Adrien's white shirt.

Suddenly, Nino's expression changed from worried, to a big dorky smile which showed how badly he had been misunderstanding things.

"Nino, no." Adrien whispered as he shook his head in disapproval.

Alya ran in immediately, looking around with a angry look in her face. Until she saw her friends at the library table.

"Marinette! They told you to go to the office, not to cut all your damn classes." Alya crossed her arms, looking at Marinette's sleepy eyes, without noticing Adrien there. Nino coughed, like it was casual. But it was more than obvious he was trying to make Alya see the situation.

"Huh? Marinette said, still quite lost and drunk in sleepiness.

"Ohhh Ohh ho oh" Alya smiled. "Hey there Adrien, I didn't even see you there."

Adrien, confused on the situation, greeted her back. "Hey..." Adrien yawned and so did Marinette.

Taking out her phone, Marinette checked the hour and saw how late it was. She had three missed calls from her home, and then it hit her suddenly.

"Oh my god, the bakery! I had to help out dad today." Marinette took her bag and quickly stood up.

"I'm sorry, I have to run. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Marinette walked out, and Alya went with her.

"See ya later Adrien. And Nino, I'll text you." Alya said smiling just before leaving the library.

Adrien, who was still definitely lost, looked at Nino.

"Dude, dude, dude" Nino said with a goofy voice as he took the nearest chair and sat with his head resting on his hands. "Since when do you hang with Marinette. I thought you weren't interested in girls from this school."

"what?" Adrien raised an eyebrow as he laughed a bit. Looks like all that strange behavior from Alya and Nino had been a misunderstanding. "Nothing like that Nino, we just went to study since, we couldn't enter to the first class. But looks like we fell asleep"

Nino pouted " wha- that's all? You're telling me you slept all day in here."

"Yup. Not what you wanted to hear right?" Adrien said, cheerfully as he pushed his friend. "Although, Marinette seemed cool. I would have try to be her friend if I we hadn't been so tired today."

"She is cool, and she's really talkative too. Well, not with you obvio-" Adrien interrupted him.

"What do you mean not with me? Am I intimidating or something?" Adrien looked at Nino, hoping his friend would give him a honest response.

"Nah dude, you're soft as a kitten. What I mean is... well, It's obvious Bro." Nino laughed and scratched the back of his neck while thinking if it was a nice idea to tell his dumb friend something so obvious.

"bro code." Adrien reminded him as he raised an eyebrow.

"Alright alright." his friend sighted "Marinette is obviously head over heels for you man."

"Nah Nino. That's probably not it." Adrien laughed a bit and stood up. He started to put his things back in the bag. But then he noticed, Marinette had left her history book in the table. Picking it up, he put it in his bag too.

"Alright dude, whatever you want to believe." He laughed and stood up too. "You better hurry up. Your limo is waiting for you on front."

~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Marinette entered to the bakery as her friend followed inside. Marinette's father was over the counter, taking care of some customers. After finishing, Mari's dad walked forward to where the girls were. He greeted Alya with a smile. Marinette's dad was a chill person, even if she did something wrong. Between her mom and his dad, her mom could be the scary one. But that was a rare sight.

"Marinette, I thought we agreed on something the other day." He spoke to her gently but with security.

Alya noticed the tense air around Marinette and her dad, so she looked at her phone, which was 'ringing' in the=at precise moment. That was just the perfect excuseto escape from seeing her friend getting scolded. "Well will you look at that haha... My mom is calling me. Be right back." She walked away outside to answer her phone.

Alya gazed from the glass, and mouthed "Good luck" as she chuckled a bit.

Marinette ignored Alya and focused on her dad.

" I know Dad, I kind of forgot... I'm sorry." She looked down, thoughtful.

She's had a pretty rough time as ladybug and Marinette lately. But those were the side effects of a double life, there were still consequences.

Her Dad gazed at her, taking a bit of pity. "Alright " he sighed. "I'm gonna let it slide for today. Just because I've been noticing that you've been down lately." He smiled warmly.

Marinette, grateful, hugged his dad. "Thanks Dad" She said softly

He responded the hug and kissed his daughter's forehead. "Don't get used to it." He messed up her hair as his laughed echoed in the room"Now, don't stay hanging too late. You should sleep early today... You look really tired. Are you okay?" he asked, feeling concerned for her.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I just have trouble sleeping." Mari replied, hoping that her father believed that lame excuse.

"Marinette ..." Before he could say something else, a customer walked in. Marinette's dad left the conversation there to go back the counter but before he left, he spoke. "I've got to go. Be careful" He smiled at her, making Marinette smile back at her dad warmly.

"Love you." She said as she waved at him before walking to the door.

"Love you more you rebel" He replied, making her laugh.

Sighting tiredly, Marinette pushed the bakery's door to go outside and look for Alya, luckly,she was still standing just besides the door waiting for her friend. As soon as she noticed Marinette walking out, Alya turned off her phone

"Soo. You In trouble?" Alya asked as she placed her hand in her hip.

"Not at all, but I should be more careful" Marinette rested her back against the bakery's wall.

"Heck yeah you should. Although, you're blessed that your dad is such a chill guy" Alya said way too honestly, but Marinette nodded aware of how lucky she was in that aspect. "Anyways what's up with Adrien?" She laughed as she poked her friend's arm, to suck out some answers.

"Not much,we just attempted to study and fell asleep." Marinette looked away to the cars passing by the bakery.

Alya looked at her amazed. She was surprised Marinette wasn't talking gibberish or blushing...or anything at all!

"And...You're telling me you just let that opportunity go?" Alya asked confused.

"Not really, I mean. It was inevitable for me to stay awake honestly." Marinette rubbed her eyes a bit.

"I can understand that part, but you seem actually surprisingly chill about that. You would usually freak out or something." Alya looked at Marinette. They exchanged confused looks.

"Honestly, I had something else in my mind." Marinette declared without even noticing. But when the words came out of her mouth, it was too late. Gosh, she was clumsy. But good thing Alya never noticed Mari's double life hints. But even so, Alya was the most curious and stubborn person she had ever met. That was one of the best/worst qualities from her friend, but she loved her anyway.

"What do you mean by that?" She raised an eyebrow, and pretty much demanding an answer.

Marinette decided, perhaps telling her the half truth wouldn't be so risky. She proceeded. "What I mean is... I.. There's this guy..." She paused, thinking of the correct choice of words as she bit her nail.

"A guy?.. aha?" clearly, Alya was impatient for the whole story.

"Okay, there's this guy. And I...I was an incredible jerk to him. I mean, we're friends and all, but he seems... interested in me but in a different way." Marinette paused again and bit her lip. "I couldn't let him confess to me or anything like that. I...I like Adrien. It wouldn't be fair to him or easy for me to turn him down." They both remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"Wait wait. So you're telling me, that there's someone else? Oh god, do I know him? Is he from our school?" Alya's smile grew from ear to ear. She was visually excited.

Marinette quickly shook her head from side to side in denial. "No, No, No Alya. Nothing like that! I, I don't like him or anything. I guess I just feel bad. Like really really bad. So he's not 'someone else', he can't be. Because I'm only interested in one person." She spoke nervously, her cheeks blushing intensely. "And no, no more details."

Alya crossed her arms a bit disappointed, she really wanted to know who was this mystery guy exactly. "Alright, Alright. I won't ask who he is, I'm sure I'll figure it out... But why do you feel so guilty if you say you don't like him?" Alya chuckled a bit. "Unless you actually do." she commented as she looked at Marinette with that huge smile of hers.

Marinette looked away, actually thinking about it. There was no way in hell she could feel that way about Chat Noir. He was the most annoying person she had met, from his lame puns to his cocky attitude. The way he would always flirt with her even though she would turn him down. Now that she actually thought about it, Chat would always try so hard for her to notice his feelings. But even if she mentioned all that, she actually didn't think those things were annoying at all. That's what made him Chat Noir. Always having a good laugh with him, hearing at his dumb ideas, fighting with him together and how he would always put her safety first...even if he would get hurt.... Gosh, she was so selfish. Chat Noir was actually one of the closest persons in her life. But she oftened treated him like shit.

"I don't" She repeated again, clearing Alya's insinuation, but messing her mind. "I don't like him....."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'

Late in the night, Adrien, woke up at the sound of Plagg's nagging. Sitting in his bed, the young model yawned not quite sure why the hell would be so important in the middle of the night.

"Gosh, Plagg" he sounded a bit more rough from sleep. Adrien quickly grabbed his phone from the night table and unlocked it. As he looked at it, Adrien noticed the hour, getting pissed. "2 AM, are you serious Plagg? Can't you just let me sleep a bit, I'll bring you cheese in the morning." Frustrated, he rubbed his face in discontent , trying to shake up the drowsy feeling he had.

"Hey don't blame me. Ladybug is trying to contact you." Plagg answered as he floated to Adrien's shoulder and sat there. "Tsk, don't shoot the messenger." The little kwami complained.

It took a few seconds for Adrien to understand, but then he opened his eyes in surprise. "W-what?!" His eyes suddently recovered their glow, and he felt as the excitement ran all over his body. "Are you joking!? I have to call her back!!" He quickly stood up, full of emotion.All that movement made Plagg fall from Adrien's shoulder to the bed. Jumping from side to side, Plagg looked at him quite tired.

"Just call her in the morning, I don't want to-" Plagg got cutted off from Adrien who already started his transformation.

"Claws out!" He said with way too much excitement. Pulling Plagg inside the ring.

"Oh maaaan!" Plagg screamed as he got sucked in.


	2. Mixed up feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What Ladybug thought that was gonna be an apology, ended up being a really bad night for her and Chat Noir. At the same time, leaving her more confused. Adrien was left alone to deal with his pain from last nights situation. Wouldn't it be Ironic that the same person who hurt him would cheer him up?

Chat Noir jumped from building to building with such agility, that it made him hard to see in the night. Making silly movements and powered flips as he ran towards the destination Ladybug had told him about in the Miraculous Phone about some minutes ago., Paris was quiet, for once in long time now, It was actually surprising to see the city so calm. But the most Impressive thing still was that his Lady reached out for him. Chat Noir kept thinking about it… About his lady, suddenly feeling down again and stopping the energized flips from roof to roof. What if she was mad at him? What if she just reached for him to hurt him more. Communicating with the miraculous weapons was something kinda convenient in some cases. But right now, he didn’t wanted to face her. Ashamed and hurt, he kept running to the direction that Ladybug indicated. Not sure why, but he wasn’t in the place to actually mourn about his broken heart. They were still partners. He knew he hadn’t had the chance with her from the beginning, he was finally accepting that.   
As he got closer, he could see the silhouette of Ladybug on top of a tall building. Chat never wanted to run back to his room so badly, and he hated his house. It’s like all the excitement he had some minutes ago was gone and replaced by shame. But by just seeing her, he felt horrible. Every step closer he took, stung to him in his chest. When he got there, Ladybug turned around.  
“I’m sorry for waking you up…” She said calmly. “I...I needed to see you.”   
That sudden sentence caught him off guard.  
“W-what? See me?” Chat looked at her trying to see if she was actually serious or if it was just a cruel joke. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.  
Ladybug nodded. “Yeah. I think, we left yesterday’s conversation hanging.”   
“Yeah...we did.”Chat looked around, nervously.  
Ladybug smiled at him warmly. “I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly yesterday.” she apologized quite sincerely “ but your identity was at stake there. I wanted to respect your privacy.”   
Hearing that reason, made Chat annoyed. Frowning, he crossed his arms in discontent. “But I didn’t care Bug…I don’t care if you see who I am” his voice trembled a bit. “I trust you completely, you should know that... Do you trust me my Lady?”

Looking away, Ladybug crossed her arms in discontent“Chat… You Don’t know what you’re saying. It’s crucial that we never reveal our identities.” She tried to make him understand her point of view.  
“Even from each other huh?” He asked, suddenly having a bit of an attitude.  
“Yes Chat.” She answered with a bit of attitude as well. “Even from each other.”  
They both stayed there in silence for a minute while looking at different directions and sighting at the same time. It wasn’t long before Ladybug looked back at him. The moonlight reflected in his messy bonde hair and suit, making him look quite mysterious. He looked away while thinking, with his gaze focusing at the eiffel tower that shined from afar. Lady bug coulsn’t help it, she couldn’t be mad with him. Anger didn’t fit that dumb cat, she loved seeing him happy.  
“I trust you.” She broke the silence. “You’re my purr-ner. Of course I trust you…” she laughed from her own lame pun as she looked back at Chat waiting for him to ease up too.  
Chat tried to hold in his laughter, while failing horribly at it. Losing his straight face, he laughed freely. They both un-crossed their arms and laughed as the awkward air faded.   
With his laughmaking it difficult for him to speak, he continued. “You are such a copy cat.” Chat noir’s laugh increased, she couldn’t help but to get close to pat his head.  
“Now that’s the kitty I like.” She kept laughing along with him without noticing her actions were making Chat Blush.  
“Like? Come on, you love me.” He grinned, as he crossed his arms in a cocky position trying to recover his cool.  
She playfully pinched his nose “You better get down from that cloud Mr. Noir” She said just before she was going to pull her hand back but suddenly Chat grabbed her hand gently, while placing it on his cheek, putting in top his own. Ladybug looked at him, seeing how he smiled from the warmth of her hand made her Smile unconsciously. And even without realizing it, her hand began to caress him, letting a cute purr escape from his lips  
“But I don’t want to get down from this cloud.” He purred from his lady’s touch, closing his eyes to appreciate the beautiful feeling that grew inside his chest.  
After staying in silence for a while, Chat opened his eyes and with a serious tone, calling out her nickname.  
“My Lady…” slowly, he began to get close to her. Pulling her hand from his cheek and then placing it inside his own hand, attempting to hold it. Surprisingly, Ladybug didn’t flinch or pull back. Instead she looked at him quite troubled with the weird feeling that was growing inside her chest. Chat played with her fingers, caressing her hand with his thumb as he held her wait with his other hand. “I think is pretty obvious but…”   
Chat paused for a minute, looking back at her eyes, those huge blue eyes… The eyes he desired that would look at him the same way he looked at her… He kept admiring them as the craving to get closer grew. She slowly focused her gaze at his eyes too, but he wasn’t sure what that meant. In fact, he wasn’t sure what all this meant. Ladybug just looked at him without a single word or an action of disapproval. She seemed blushed, like really blushed. He had never seen her like that in his life.   
As he slowly pulled her by the waist, he gently tilted his head to the side, attempting to lock their lips together but before he got anymore closer, he whispered “I’m...I’m in love with you.”   
She was breathless, he had her like that. With only a simple sentence, a sentence which meant much more than she could ever imagine. With their bodies almost together and their lips almost touching, she felt tempted by Chat. He closed his eyes, ready to give in, but Ladybug stopped him just in time. Placing her hands in Chat’s chest, as she pushed him while looking down to the side.   
“But I can’t love you Chat…” She gulped not sure if that was true “I never will!” She replied to his confession, with such cruel words….words that stabbed him slowly and brutally, making his body tremble.   
With a sorrowful look Chat tried to get close to her but she pushed him once more. “I don’t understand, just some minutes ago yo-” Ladybug interrupted him.  
“Don’t touch me.” She said bluntly, without even thinking of the consequences. But she was In love with Adrien, how could she feel like thing with Chat Noir too? It had to be a mistake, she couldn’t let herself give in. 

They both stayed silence, but this time...looked like neither of them were going to break it. Ladybug, still in the same place, looked up at Chat. The sight she got, broke her heart. He bit his lip, trying to hold some tears, but he couldn’t control himself. Not anymore. Ladybug opened her mouth to take back what she said, but he unexpectedly brushed off her hands from his chest and took a few steps back. Unable to look at his Lady in her eyes, he took off. Leaving Ladybug alone in the roof, with her hands extended, desiring to grab him back.  
What Ladybug had done….What Marinette had done tonight… She regretted it. 

 

Ladybug traveled all the way back to her home, landing on her roof, where she quickly opened the ground door to her room and entered. Deactivating her transformation, she catched tiki on her hands and looked at her. Tikki was obviously tired, so Marinette walked to the desk where she had some cookies just for her kwami.   
“So you guys spoke? How did it go?” Tikki asked worried, as she floated to the cookie’s box, grabbing one and taking a bite.   
“Not good. Not good at all.” Marinette sat in the desk’s chair, frustrated. “Tikki I think I made the wrong choice. I..I am so confused. I wanted him to continue, to kiss me, I wanted to hear what he thought. But at the same time, I couldn’t do that. I already liked someone else. Plus I don’t know what I feel about him.” She covered her face in shame, holding in some tears. “The way I reacted was selfish.”   
Tikki could clearly see how upset Mari was. She floated back to her, and caressed Marinette’s cheek to comfort her. “It’s not your fault Marinette, you just want to do things right. If you’re confused, explain what’s happening to him...Apologize. Chat Noir will understand. He’s your partner.”  
Marinette thought for a bit.   
“But Tikki, how can I explain something I don’t even understand.” she replied as she cried quietly, Tikki cleaned her tears, with sympathy.  
“Oh Mari…” Tikki looked down, upset as well. 

 

After a long night, Marinette finally slept a bit. The next day, she went to school on time, and entered to her first class, sitting next to Alya. Alya smirked as she saw her friend.  
“Ha, Not sure if I’m hallucinating but I think I see Marinette in class 10 minutes before it starts.” Alya poked her friend’s arm as she chuckled.   
“Real funny” Marinette laughed back. “I didn’t want the teacher to send me to the office this time, Plus My parent’s are kinda pissed at me.”  
“Heck girl, I would be too.” Alya spoke as she moved her hands with her usual confident attitude. “What’s that?” She pointed at a white shirt Marinette was holding. “You ‘forgot’ to give him his shirt back?” She laughed, putting emphasis in the word focus.  
She shook her head to the sides, blushing just a little bit. “I actually forgot you know.” She laughed. “I barely noticed I took it this morning.”   
Alya raised an eyebrow. “Is it because you had something else in mind?” looking at her friend with suspicion “Or perhaps someone?”  
Blushing even more Marinette covered Alya’s mouth, who was speaking way too loud. “Shush Alya...And yea, kinda. But not in the way you think.”  
Or perhaps in the way you think...Marinette responded in her head. Shaking off that thought, she looked at the door, where Nino and Adrien were entering.   
“Well if you say so.” Alya winked.  
Rolling her eyes, Marinette cut the conversation as Nino and Adrien sat in the chairs in front of them. Nino waved at the girls, and they waved back. Spaced out, Adrien didn’t notice and he just sat. 

“Hey girls” Nino looked back at them, later, gazing at Marinette with a weird look. “Adrien and Marinette early in school makes me feel scared. It’s like a miracle.”  
Alya laughed. “I know right! I was thinking the same thing.”   
Marinette glazed at Adrien, who looked lost on his thoughts. “Hey Adrien, I brought back your shirt.” She said calmly, snapping him out of his thought.  
“Uh?” Adrien turned around, kinda lost.He looked at her and then looked down at her hands where she carefully grabbed his shirt, folded. “Ah, I didn’t even noticed you took it. Thanks Marinette.” He smiled warmly at her, extending his hands to grab the shirt.   
“No problem” She smiled back.   
“Everyone is here?” Mrs.Bustier asked as she entered to the classroom and looked around. “Well this is miraculous isn’t it?.” She focused her sight to Adrien and Marinette. “Let’s get started then shall we?”   
Nino and Adrien sat straight, looking at the teacher who started talking and explaining something about a novel they had read a couple days ago. Marinette focused her gaze at the back of Adrien’s head, admiring his profile. From his wide shoulders, to his neck and even his golden hair were perfect. But as she contemplated Adrien’s perfectly combed hair… A thought of Chat Noir popped in her head, confused on how could she even compare Chat’s messy hair with Adrien’s. She started of think more and more of him, his silly grin, really green eyes and how they closed whenever he was having a good laugh. Chat’s way of calling her ‘My Lady’... She barely remembered when all that started, it all felt so natural. Why couldn’t she have the same confidence when talking with Adrien? Words never came out so easily with him. Yet, she kept wondering, what were her real feelings. Perhaps she just idealized Adrien as a perfect being, and perhaps she should cut Chat Noir some slack. Ladybug often teased him and then rejected him, of course he was confused!... But Marinette couldn’t make up her mind… Before Marinette noticed, it was already lunch time.   
Alya stood up and stretched, moving to the sides. Nino gazed at her, contemplating if he should say something.   
“Hey girls, how about we all go and lunch together today?” with a silly smile he kept looking at her.  
Alya gazed at Marinette, who raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Sounds really great don’t you think Alya?”  
Laughing a bit, Alya nodded. “Of course, we should.”  
Adrien looked at his friends as the conversation kept going. “Uhm.” He interrupted, and looked at Nino for some seconds and then looked away. “I’ll pass for today. I- I have something else to do.”   
Nino’s look sadden, but he extended his arm to fist bump. “Of course bro, but text me if you change your mind.” Adrien responded to his fist bump, and then he waved back at Alya and Mari. Taking his things, he exited the classroom, leaving an awkward silence between the three of them.  
Alya analyzed Nino’s look concerned. “Is he alright? He seems awfully down today.”   
Lifting up his shoulders he answered. “I have no idea, I’ve been trying to figure it out, but it’s no help. I’ve never seen him so down before. I hope is not about his dad or something. Adrien’s dad is kind of a dick.”   
Thinking for a bit, an idea popped in Marinette’s head. “You guys know what? I think I have something to do too.” She gazed at Alya. “Have fun guys” A little grin escaped from her lips.   
Blushing, Nino tried to say something but Marinette quickly took her bag and left, leaving the two of them alone.   
“S-so” he scratched the back of his neck. “Does this count like a date?” Nervously laughing, he watched at Alya’s face of disapproval.   
“Not even close” Taking him from the wrist, they walked out.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adrien walked around the school, thoughtful. Still hurt for yesterday’s escenario, it was becoming difficult for him to control his emotions. As he walked in the halls, plenty of other students greeted him and waved at him, with a fake smile, he would answer back. But it was becoming quite tiresome, so he decided to look for a place to sit, or perhaps...to hide.   
Giving one last lap around the school, he noticed the Janitor’s room. He had never noticed that room before, but he was quite sure that no one would bother him there. Moving the handle to check if it was open, he unlocked the door. Entering the dark room, he quickly closed the door and lighted up the place with his phone. Plagg finally came out of Adrien’s pocket as Adrien looked for a light switch, finding one, but the light was damaged and it barely illuminated anything. He looked around, using the flashlight of his smartphone only to find some old boxes, mops and cleaning supplies.   
“Do you seriously expect to spend lunch here...Without the lunch!” He exclaimed, emphasizing on the food part.   
Opening his bag, he took out a slice of camembert cheese, making Plagg overly excited. He quickly floated to Adrien’s hand and took the slice. “When do you ever plan on changing your food diet?” Adrien laughed weakly.  
“Nevah” Plagg answered as he shoved the entire piece in his mouth.   
Adrien sat in a corner of the little room, besides some old boxes with old books. Plagg sat in top of the boxes, just in the level of Adrien’s head. Adrien placed the phone in the floor to light up the room a bit, but it wasn’t much help. Hugging his knees, he placed his head in top of them. He closed his eyes to hold the tears, but it wasn’t much help. He couldn’t hold it in anymore. He felt devastated, even though he knew she didn’t love him since the very beginning. But what hurt the most was the words she used. ‘I can’t love you Chat… I never will’. Those words played in his head in repeat, making it harder to control himself. Plagg floated to Adrien’s arm and unable to do anything, he hugged him. Adrien knew Plagg was trying to cheer him up, but his body was unable to move. All he could do was let it all out…  
Suddenly, the door opened,letting in some light which was uncomfortable for Adrien’s eyes at the moment. Plagg quickly hid in Adrien’s shirt, as he tilted his head up to see who was it. Not seeing well because of the sudden amount of light, he noticed the familiar female curves .   
“My lady?” He whispered, confused. Seemed like the person didn’t hear his whispers, But after focusing, he noticed it was Marinette.   
Marinette, took a moment to see who was hiding behind the boxes, only glancing at the person’s golden hair and huge green eyes, that shined with the light of outside. Staying paralyzed, she kept looking for a moment.  
“Chat?” She asked faintly to herself, her heart almost skipping a beat. But the person stood up, letting himself be seen. It was Adrien. Sighing in relief, Marinette spoke. “You scared me for a moment there Adrien. Almost confused you with someone else.”   
Adrien was going to answer, but some voices were about to pass in the hall. He was aware that this room wasn’t for student use, but he needed a place to hide at the moment. He couldn’t let anyone take that away from him now. Quickly, he walked to the door and without thinking, he pulled Marinette inside while holding her wrists . Then closing the door and pushing Marinette against it. Before she could speak, he covered her mouth with his hand, waiting for the voices to fade.   
Mari’s heart was beating hysterically. She couldn’t see him well, just a bit. But it was too dark, the only thing that lighted up the room was the weak light of Adrien’s phone that was still on the floor. She could feel a bit of his weight in top of her, and his hand made her breathing more difficult. After some minutes, the voices faded, and he uncovered Marinette’s mouth. Taking a big breath,He looked at Marinette, noticing her tremble.  
“I’m sorry..” He whispered, looking at her. “I-I hope I didn’t hurt you. It’s just that I..” He stopped talking, figuring out that whatever he was going to say was useless now. “I needed a place to hide, that’s all...How did you knew I was here?”   
Marinette, Ignoring how close he was to her, took a deep breath to calm down herself and gulped. “I saw you enter here… I.. I noticed you were down.. S-so I brought you this…” Opening her bag, she took out a box.   
Not quite sure what was it, Adrien took it and looked at the box a bit closer. “Oh, what is it?” He opened it, it had a slice of some kind of dessert.   
“It’s a sriracha chocolate dulce de leche tart” Marinette laughed a bit. “It’s from my dad’s shop.”   
Adrien’s heart warmed up a bit. “Y-you mean you went all the way back to your house to give this to me?” grateful, he smiled. “I’m... I...Thank You Marinette. No one has ever done this for me” Holding back his tears, he kept smiling.  
Marinette, smiled back. She looked at him with effort since the lack of light, but she noticed a tear running from his cheek. Concerned, she raised her hand and gently, cleaned up his tear from his cheek.   
“Adrien…” Marinette was shocked, she didn’t know what to do or say.  
Weakly smiling, Adrien grabbed her hand and pressed it tightly as he caressed it in gratitude,but after noticing how inapropiatte the situation was, he laughed nervously. Adrien quickly let go andsat down, on the floor, crossing his legs and placing the box on his lap. Because of the incredible lack of space in the room, She sat in front of him, while crossing her legs as well. Marinette kept on thinking on how could she cheer him up.   
Unexpectedly, she grabbed the box from Adrien’s hads and and sliced a piece with the plastic fork that was inside the box. “Open up.” She ordered him.  
Confused, he laughed. “What?”  
“Open up” She repeated again, with a firm tone. “My dad used to bake me this whenever I felt sad, and it always helped me cheer up. No matter what was happening.”  
She approached the fork to his mouth. Adrien smiled warmly from Marinette’s intention to help him. Opening his mouth and taking a bite of the tart, he looked at her eyes who were gazing down at him. Appreciating the soft taste of chocolate in his mouth, he smiled as he pulled back. And it didn’t take long before he coughed and tears came out of his eyes.  
“What the hell” He laughed between his coughs. “This is extremely spicy.”   
Marinette laughed more as she saw his reaction. “Oh, I know. Trust me.” Taking out a water bottle from her bag, she handed it to him.  
After drinking half of the water, he kept laughing, but tears kept dropping from his eyes. He wasn’t sure anymore if it was because of the spice or his own sadness “T-then why?”  
Laughing along, she replied. “That’s cause… If you’re crying because of something, and then you eat something spicy. You won’t be crying because of that same reason anymore. You’ll be more focused on the food and drown in your tears until the flavor fades from your mouth.” She giggled. “That’s what my dad says, but I’m pretty sure he just loves to see me suffer.”  
“Well that’s some evil shit” he grabbed another piece with the fork and offered it to her. “Chop chop, it’s your turn”   
“No it’s not” She moved her head back to reject the food.   
He got closer, along with the fork. “Uh, actually yes. Don’t think I haven’t notice you were down recently too.” he spoke with his voice trembling from the crying, but now he was actually laughing.  
She thought for a while, he was right. Perhaps from when they were in the library he noticed something. “Alright, Agreste. You have a point.”   
She opened her mouth and took a bite. Ready for the spice heat, Marinette closed her eyes. Her cheeks were bright red, and tears fell from her eyes as she blew a bit the spice. Adrien cleaned her tears with his thumb as he laughed mocking her.   
“T-the water, pass me the water” She fought for words to come out her mouth and tried to ignore the jalapeno flavor in her mouth.  
Grabbing the water bottle, he began to drink it all. Mari screamed, trying to get the remaining of the bottle. “Not fair!!!!” she repeated. Almost throwing herself in top of him to get to the bottle.  
“You’re quite the fighter aren’t you?” He kept laughing as Marinette fought for the bottle. After wrestling for a few minutes, she finally grabbed it, leaving Adrien laying on the ground. Without even noticing that she was sitting in top of him.   
After finishing the water, she sighed relieved.”Oh you have no idea!” Marinette’s laugh echoed in the room, making him laugh along with her .And there they were, laughing and crying at the same time like two dorks. Minutes went by as they kept joking and talking. It was the first time they had shared this much. And even the first time in a while they both had a good laugh. Adrien was impressed, he never knew how sweet and funny Marinette could be. But he was glad that she found him…. Or he would still be gloomy and locked in this small closet room alone.   
Suddenly, the school bell rang, capturing their attention. Took them a while to realize the position they were in. Marinette, frustrated, quickly got off from on top of him and stood up and offered him help to stand up too.  
“I- I’m sorry” She nervously looked around. Smiling, he grabbed her hand as she spoke.  
“Don’t worry about it, It’s my fault. I almost got you to choke with jalapeno” He laughed and Mari pulled him up.  
As she laughed, he looked at her. Nino’s words popped in his head. But he was pretty sure Marinette didn’t like him the way Nino pointed.   
Without hesitating, he spoke. “You know, Nino told me that you had a crush on me.”  
Marinette’s heart jumped. Her cheeks were turning even more red now, and this time...it wasn’t because of the jalapeno. “U-uh.” Speechless, she shook her head nervously. “N-not at all, I just want to be your friend.”   
“Yeah I told him that too.” Adrien thought about it a bit, as he looked at Mari’s silhouette in the dark.  
Mari was way beyond kind, she was sweet, adorable and precious. Sadly his heart belonged to someone who would never notice him. LadyBug and Marinette were both so different, he couldn’t even compare them. Suddenly, some words slipped his mouth as he thought out loud...“But I wouldn't mind that you liked me.”   
Quickly realizing what he just said, his cheeks were as red as Marinette’s. He shyly looked away, but Marinette’s gaze was focused on him. Not sure if what she heard was real or just part of her overly active imagination.   
“I..Uh….Uhm..” Not quite sure of what to say, he looked back at Marinette, who stood there frozen. “Oops, almost forgot my phone hahahaha…..” He quickly grabbed the phone that was on the floor and then opened the door. “L-let’s go.”  
“S-sure…” Marinette replied, still confused.   
They both quickly got out and closed the door. Luckily, the hall wasn’t full of people, since the bell had already rang. Speechless, they both headed to the classroom and only made small talks.


	3. 2.5 Regret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Days passed and still no word of Chat or news of Hawkmoth. It had been a really quiet, everything exept from her mind. Thoughts of Chat Noir haunted Marinette, making her more confused now that Adrien was becoming a close friend to her.  
> Did she love both? Or was she confused?  
> Too bad she's too dumb to notice the truth.

Couple days had passed, and Marinette still hadn't heard from Chat Noir, and even less from Hawkmoth's akumas. Those last few days had been normal, well apart from her new friends circle. Now she and Alya would hang out with Nino and Adrien at lunch and sometimes after school. Marinette and Adrien's friendship was visibly growing, but neither of them spoke about the whole 'I wouldn't mind' situation. Instead, they spoke casually now. 

 

They were in the library, along with most of the kids from the class. Except for Chloe and Sabrina, who had 'better things to do' at the moment. It was normal of their class to hang out together in the library, especially when a game tournament was announced or when Mrs. Bustier gave them movie assignments.

In the front table, Alix was fighting with Kim for the controller, making the library even more noisy. They were all waiting for the teacher to bring the movie, but as they waited, they passed around the channels from the local media. Everyone was talking loudly, except Marinette, who was sitting in the floor, close to the TV.

"Give me it!!" Alix tried to take the controller from Kim's hands, but he was too tall. "I just want to see the Euro cop before it's the teacher comes!"

"Nu-uh, I was the one to ask the teacher for the controller." Kim said even more loudly than her.

Juleka looked at them confused. "Actually I was the one who-"

They cutted Juleka off and kept arguing.  
"C-come on guys, no need to fight." Rose tried to calm things up but it was no use, they were really into their fighting. 

Max sighed as he saw the scene in front of him. "Ridiculous." he said faintly as he continued to scroll in his phone.

Alya laughed along with Nino, making fun from everything that was going on. 

Marinette gazed them, who were a bit more in the back, sitting on top of a table.

"It seems I've been replaced by a girl." Adrien said as he appeared from nowhere, sitting besides Marinette, taking her by surprise. 

Startled, she laughed a bit "Yep, seems like we already lost our best friends." 

"I keep asking Nino if they are a thing but he doesn't even know. Has Alya told you something?"

Marinette looked back at the two lovebirds, thoughtful. "Actually, no. She is quite secretive in that subject." 

Adrien looked at Mari, who was not paying much attention to him. "And you?" He smiled. "Are you secretive?" 

Marinette looked back at him nervous "Me? Pff no" She laughed from her lie, wondering what Adrien could think of her if he knew that she was Paris's superhero.  
"I don't believe you." He commented.

"Everybody should have their own secrets from time to time."  
Marinette smiled, Adrien had caught her lying...Well, something like that. 

"Hmm, Maybe hehe. Wait so that means Adrien Agreste has some secrets too?" She placed her fingers down her chin to look curious. "I wonder what they are." she raised an eyebrow.

"I guess you'll have to find out." Extending his hand, he messed Marinette's hair. Laughing at how silly she looked.

"Ey ey, stawp." She fixed her hair and pouted. "Not the hair."

"Hm, and I thought I was the model." he rested his head on his knees as he looked at her.

She chuckled "Maybe I am a model" Marinette threw a wink at him. 

"So many secrets!" He exclaimed acting surprised.

While laughing, Marinette looked behind again, seeing her best friend still talking cheerfully with Nino, she smiled. Marinette looked forward again as she heard the TV changing channels. 

"Just leave it there!!! God damn it!" Rose commanded as she surprisingly took the control and left the tv at at a local channel. Everyone was surprised to see Rose react that way. So they all sat and look at the TV.

"Woah, Rad." Julekka said faintly as she saw the sudden mood change in Rose. 

The show looked like a TV special for thanking Paris's heroes LadyBug and Chat Noir. Marinette quickly noticed making her smile warmly and pay full attention to the TV. Adrien, In the other hand, became a little tense and gloomy. 

"It's been more than a year since Paris's favorites super heroes arrived and fought off villains. What a better way to say thanks than to make a Christmas special in their names?" It was a dark skinned host who spoke charismatically, speaking with a cheerful attitude. "That's why today we have some special hosts here to talk about of what they know of our heroes and more! Tweet using the hashtag down below and tell us who is the best, Chat Noir or Ladybug?" The host kept talking, but so did everyone in the library, It became Imposible to hear what the host was saying.

"That's obviously Ladybug duh." Said Chloe suddenly entering with Sabrine. 

They all turned around to see her.

"For once, I'll have to agree with you." Alya said, disgusted from her own words. 

Adrien agreed with them as he nodded. "I kinda support that statement too." His tone was melancholic.

"No way" Marinette said without realizing it. "Chat Noir is by far the most important." everyone looked at her.

Adrien was surprised from the sudden comment, blushing a bit. 

"But without Ladybug, who would purify the akumas?" Adrien asked in curiosity of Marinette's answer.

Chloe laughed. "See? Even my Adrien agrees with me."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "But that wouldn't matter if Chat Noir wasn't there. Because Ladybug would never go far without him. She would probably never have the chance to purify the akumas." Pouting a bit, she kept talking. "Well, That's just my opinion, I like Chat Noir best." 

Chloe flipped her hair as she spoke. "Well yeah whatever, your opinion doesn't matter Marinette." 

Marinette, annoyed, looked forward and glanced at Adrien, noticing his red cheeks. "Adrien? Are you alright?" She extended her arm to touch his forehead and check his temperature.  
"Y-yehh. I'm fine." Still blushed from Marinette's complements, he smiled. "I'm perfect" He kept looking at her. Making Marinette smile back. Sadly, it didn't take long before Chloe sat next to Adrien. 

"Uhm, excuse me" Chloe looked at Marinette. "Go back with your two eyed friend in the back. You're bothering Adrien and me. You pigtailed stalker." 

Adrien looked at Chloe pissed, but before he could say something, Marinette spoke as she stood up. 

"Since when do you command me or Adrien?" She raised an eyebrow. "So you prefer to make a fool of yourself and force someone to hang with you? You should really grow up." And before Chloe could speak up, Marinette left and sat in the back with Nino and Alya. 

Chloe was mad, real mad. The other students laughed a bit as they saw Chloe's exagerated reacction.

"You know what? Screw you and the stupid movie assigment. Agh" She quickly stood up and left, with Sabrine following her around.

Adrien stood up as well, not sure of what happened. It was the first time he saw Marinette so sure of herself. Almost reminded him of Ladybug. He walked to the back and sat with his friends.

"Way to go gurl" Alya winked at Marinette as they fist bumped. 

Adrien kept looking at Marinette, still having the vivid image of Ladybug in his head. 

Could it be? 

No, it couldn't... He was overthinking. 

Nino made Adrien snap back from his thoughts. "Yo dude, Don't look at her so much. it's becoming obvious." He said in a low tone for only them to hear.

Nino laughed as he teased his friend. 

"Nothing like that Nino" Adrien blushed just a bit.

Alya and Marinette got close to join the conversation.

"What are you guys talking about~" Alya said all curious, with her eyes all over them. 

"Guy stuff." Nino answered as he laughed a bit.

"Oh is that so?" Alya grabbed Marinette, interlocking arms. "We'll sit in the front to talk about our girl things then." then she proceeded to walk forward, taking her friend with her. Marinette took a last look back at Adrien who smiled at her warmly. 

 

 

Sitting now in the floor in the same spot she was before. Alya's grin looked as big as ever. Marinette knew what that meant, She was up to something. 

"What?" Marinette asked her with a poker face.

Alya giggled "Oh nothing~" And before Alya could continue, Mrs. Bustier walked in.

"Alright kids! Shush, I found the movie. Today I want you to be completely QUIET. Alright?" She asked, obviously sending a subliminal message behind the word quiet. "Nath, turn the lights off" 

Nath took a couple of seconds to react. He closed his artbook and then walked all the way to the light switch, turning it off completely. 

"Perfect." The teacher said cheerfully as she inserted the cassette to the DVR.

"Seriously, who uses DVR's movies nowadays?" Alya commented to me, making Marinette giggle a bit. 

"Well, atleast now we know from the start that the movie is going to be boring" Mari whispered to her, causing more laughter between the two of them.

The movie started, everyone went quiet. Even Alya, who Marinette thought was going to be investigating her. Suddenly, Alya got close to Mari, ready to speak. Looks like she jinxed it.

"Soo..." Alya whispered. "You and Adrien..."  
Marinette laughed, already expecting that comment.

"Just friends. Buuut tell me, you and Nino?..."

She pushed her a bit, as she laughed. "Just friends." 

Marinette raised an eyebrow as she looked at her, making her expression change a bit.

"W-what? It's true..." Alya giggled as she blushed a bit "But now that I think about it... What happened to the mysterious guy who was crushing you the other day?" 

Marinette didn't expect that question, at all.

Lowering her gaze, her heart stung from remembering what happened. It took a couple of minutes for her to speak.

"Hmm?" Alya kept looking at her, noticing the sudden mood change. "Did something bad happen?..." 

"Alya, I hurt him." She confessed. "I rejected him in a cruel way. But the worst thing..." She paused for a minute "The worst thing was that I regret it. Every day I think of him Alya. But then I start to feel something for Adrien too. I don't know which feeling is real." Stressed, Marinette rubbed her face with her hands. "I'm a mess.."

Alya hugged Marinette and held her arms so she would stop messing with her face. "You're not a mess girl, you're just confused Mari. You'll figure it out. Talk to that guy... Whoever he is and apologize, be honest about why you rejected him. If he understands then he's a keeper. But if he doesn't, then don't even bother. There has to be one of them that makes you feel more in love than the other." Alya petted Mari's head gently. "Just figure out who..."  
Mari nodded, taking Alya's advice to heart. 

She was right, she had to be. It was impossible to fall for two people at once....

And with those words, Marinette made up her mind. She was certain that she'll look for him... She was going to apologize to Chat Noir.


	4. Lovesick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Days passed and Marinette still didn't have the guts to look for Chat Noir. Apart from the fever she had, what happened the other day with him still ate her alive. Thankfully, encouraging words from Tikki would make her stand up from bed and ignore how her body was feeling...Leading up to a unexpected event.

Marinette rolled in her bed, absolutely tired and a bit dizzy. It was a Friday night, and she was still unable to sleep well from the last time she saw Chat... The only thing in her head was him and Adrien, but she was sick of over thinking so much. Tikki floated around her in circles, Making Marinette even more dizzy.

"Are you going to keep flying around?" Mari asked as she covered her face with a pillow. "You're not helping"

Suddenly stopping, the little kwami looked at Marinette with a little smirk "And I could ask you the same! Are you going to keep rolling around in your bed?" Tikki landed on Marinette's stomach, and began to jumping on top of it playfully.

Before being able to answer, Marinette uncovered her face, putting away the pillow and coughed. "The answer is yes." She coughed a bit more. "I can't get to fall asleep."

Tikki looked at her worried, and flew towards Mari's cheeks with her little kwami arms.

"You're kind of hot Marinette.." She said worried, with her voice speaking faintly.

Aware of that fact that she was getting sick, she tried to avoid that."Well thank you." Mari laughed, as she sat down in the bed.

Tikki pouted. "I'm not kidding Marinette... you should rest a bit"

Mari stood up and stretched, Making tikki float around her as she moved "I know you're not kidding, but I'm strong Tikki. I'm sure it's nothing."

Tikki remained quiet, thoughtful.

Still with other things in her mind, Mari couldn't help but to share her worries and forget about the fever. "Should I try to talk to him?" Marinette started to walk around in her room. "I mean...I should. But but-" Tikki cutted her off, flying in front of Mari to stop her from walking around pointlessly.

"Marinette" She looked seriously at her. "If you keep asking yourself if you should, then you probably won't do anything and you'll lose the chance."

Marinette stopped walking and looked at Tikki, analyzing her words. "You're right... But what about Adrien?..."

"First, fix your problem with Chat, and then focus on choosing someone alright?" Tikki smiled at her sweetly. "I believe in you, you should believe in yourself too."

Marinette smiled from Tikki's warm words, he held her kwami in her palms, giving her a little kiss in the top of her head. "Thanks, you always know what to say... Tikki, spots on!!!!"

"W-wait not noooowwww-" Tikki screamed as she got sucked inside the earings.

Noticing she had cutt off Tikki, Marinette bit her lip. "Opps?"

~~~

As soon as she transformed, she exited her room, going out from the little door in the ceiling (The one in top of her bed) that lead to the roof. Before leaving, she made sure she'd left the little door open for when she came back. Trying to stay balanced and ignoring her headache, she ran in top of Paris's roofs, using her yoyo to travel... jumping from place to place gracefully. Paris's weather was freezing, and before she noticed, snow was falling. With december around the corner, she wasn't sure how it was going to be. Last christmas she wasn't a superhero at all, so the idea of capturing akumas in middle of a family dinner sounded annoying to her. Ignoring her worries, she stopped in the same roof as the last time she spoke to her partner, taking her yoyo/phone and marking Chat's number.

It rang.

And rang.

And rang.

Still, no response. 

aybe he was busy? She thought while sitting on the cold roof floor, closing her eyes as little pieces of snow, fell on top of her, covering her hair. Coughing, she crossed her arms to stay warm.

An hour passed before she heard the sound of boots against the floor, coming towards her. Opening her eyes weakly, she stood up, quite unbalanced. Almost falling, but Chat grabbed her arm to help her.

"Are you alright?" he asked worried, still holding her arm, noticing her trembling. "It's too cold to be outside..." He commented with his voice in a low tone.

"Y-yeah, I'm alright. I just need to talk" She coughed, covering her mouth."how did you know I was going to be here?"

Raising an eyebrow "I figured..." Chat touched her cheeks to feel her temperature which felt incredebly hot even if he had his costume's gloves on. "Ladybug, but what are you doing out? You're burning up..."

"I said I'm alright!" She brushed off Chat's hand and stayed up with difficulty, moving a bit from side to side. "We have to talk."

Chat, pissed at his lady's stubbornness, tried to bring some sense into her. "Alright, but let's talk later. You should head home."

"Why not now?!" She asked him frustrated. "Chat, what I did..What I said the other night is eating me alive. I can't stop thinking about you."

Hurt, from remembering, he wasn't going to continue that conversation. This was not the time nor place, she trembled from head to toes, and her eyes looked tired. Chat wasn't going to make her be out in such conditions, and the weather didn't help either...

"We'll talk later My Lady." He walked away, but before he could jump she grabbed his arm tightly.

"Don't run away... Don't run away again Chat!" She begged with her voice breaking, not being capable of holding in her tears. "Please"

He looked back at her face. Seeing her breaking in front of him was making it difficult for him to control himself and hold in his tears too. Moving from side to side, Chat grabbed her arm again to help her gain balance. He was confused, why was she so desperate to talk? This was not like her at all.

"No, please understand. I promise I'll look for you as soon as you get better." Chat hugged her, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin in top of her head as he caressed her hair. "Alright?"

Ladybug didn't respond. He waited minutes as he hugged her, caressing her hair gently. Removing the snow.

Still no response.

"Ladybug?" He asked as he noticed the weight of her body almost falling in top of him.

He looked at her, lifting her head up from the chin with his fingers. She was unconscious. "WHAT" 

Panicking a bit, he carefully slapped her cheek. "M-My lady!?" he paused tosee if she reacted, but she didn't "Are you asleep? Oh my god don't do this, wake up." he blew in her face,still seeing no reaction. "Where the hell am I supposed to take you now?!" he pinched her nose with his fingers.

"Alright alright calm down." Chat told himself as he took a deep breath in. Crouching down, he grabbed her legs and waist to pull her up and carry her. Her head rested in Chat's chest as he nervously walked around in circles, still unsure of what to do. Take her to the hospital perhaps? A sudden light came from her body, and that was not a good sign and made the idea of the hospital a big no. What if someone figured out her identity...

"Shit shit shit shit" He spoke to himself as he kept walking around in circles. "Why did you had to come out in the middle of the night Bugaboo!"

He had to do something, and fast. Quickly, he laid her body in the floor, so that the light of her transformation wasn't so visible if someone passed in that street and looked up. He stood up, ready to leave, but stopped as he thought a bit. He couldn't just leave her unconscious in a random roof with such weather. Of course he wanted to turn around and see who was his Lady, but he also wanted to respect her privacy. As he looked to another direction, he noticed the light faded. That meant her transformation had ended, and made him even more freaked out. 

'Curiosity killed the cat' he repeated in his head over and over to convince himself to leave. But how could he do that?

Turning around, he saw a girl in her pink shirt with white dots, messy dark blue hair and light blue shorts laying in the floor, still unconscious. As he got closer, his breath was fading. He recognized the girl. He knew her.. He knew her so damn much and he never figured out it was Ladybug. Chat knelt besides her to take a closer look. It was her...His lady was so close to him every damn day... Caressing her cheek, he bit his lip, to remind himself that he shouldn't touch her. Ladybug....Marinette should never know he knew. Carrying her again, he held her tightly too make sure she didn't fall. Still unable to look away from her beautiful face.

"Chat." He heard a squeaky voice around. It was definitely not Marinette but a little red kwami who suddenly appeared in front of him. "Focus! Please take her to her room, she's burning up. Her transformation was not done yet but her body rejected me...She must be really sick." He quickly nodded, ignoring the hurricane that was happening in his head. Her health was the important thing right now.

"Y-yes. You're right." He shaked his head to focus.

Tikki sat in chat's shoulder. "Okay so her house is over th-" Chat interrupted her.

"It's alright, I know where Mari lives." He said without noticing how fishy that sounded.

The little kwami raised an eyebrow, she totally knew that Chat knew Marinett in real life. But that wasn't something she should tell Marinette. It was best to leave things how they were.

Jumping from building to building, carrying Marinette's light body, Chat destined himself to the little Dupain bakery. After some minutes of running, he landed on the bakery's roof, noticing a little door in the floor just besides a chair. He opened it up and entered, being careful with the unconscious Marinette he was holding. He gently placed her body in her bed pink bed bellow the door, then the blonde haired cat sat besides her, admiring her completely.

"Thank you for bringing her back... " Tikki said, floating in front of him, stealing all his attention. "I'm Tikki, Ladybug's kwami." he smiled as her.

"I thought all kwami's were rude and naggy like Plagg" He laughed as he looked at the red kwami's reaction. "Nice to meet you Tikki."

"Plagg is certainly one of I kind." she sighted.

"So you know him huh?" He asked surprised, making Tikki giggle.

"Of course I do! I've known him since always." She floated around in circles playfully. "And looks like you already knew Marinette before didn't you."

That comment left him surprised. "I uh, I... Uhm N-no! Her name is M-Marinette? Wooow the more you know huh? Ha ha ha...." his attempt of lying was horrible, making tikky giggle even more.

"Well alright." She paused a bit, then looking outside. The snow kept on falling, more and more by the minute. "You should probably run now, before the snow gets worse." she suggested

Chat calmed down and thought for a while, looking again at the sleeping Marinette. "I want to wait a bit... I'm worried about her. Plus... My mind is a mess honestly..."

Tikki smiled at him to cheer him up. "I get it, I'll give you space so you can sort things out in your mind." giggling, Tikki flew and hid in Marinette's desk, in some kind of box that looked like a kwami sized hide out.

Chat looked back again at Mari, analyzing her completely. How was he so blind? How didn't he noticed it before?

All the hints...

All the similar features...

It was all so clear. Chat felt dumb, like a new level of retarded. Placing his hand on her cheek, he ran his finger from her eyelid, gently caressing her long eyelashes, then going down, feeling the figure of her nose, going all the way to her lips. As he felt her lips with his fingertips, he blushed, but quickly backed his hand off before he could start doing something dumb... His lady was actually Marinette... The sweet and clumsy Marinette, the one who cheered him up because Ladybug broke her heart. The same person! It was all so confusing now. And some days ago he thought he was actually falling for another person.... But it was his own lady he was falling for....For a second time.

Marinette's eyes trembled as she opened them slowly. Surprised, he touched her cheeks to check on her temperature. Sadly, she was still burning hot.

"M-My Lady..." he whispered. "Close your eyes again, rest a bit. I'm sorry I didn't mean t-" Marinette cut him off quickly

"C-Chat.." she slowly sat down in the bed, and he helped her. "You didn't leave..." her eyes got all watery, and it wasn't long before she started to cry again.

Chat Noir, confused for her sudden reaction, cleaned her tears. "My lady, lay back down, the fever is making you like this. When you're more conscious, we'll talk. Alright?"

"You want to leave again?" she replied, probably not listening what Chat was saying.

He sighed, trying to lay her back down, having in mind that the high fever could have her imagining things. But Marinette suddenly hugged him, leaving him weak. Wrapping her arms behind his neck, she moved her body close to him, sitting in his lap as she looked at him with her tired eyes.

He left a little faint scream come out of his lips as his cheeks burned with fire. "M-my lady!?" He asked confused, not sure of what to do.

"Chat.. I never meant what I said that time..." she whispered with a weak voice. "I really am In love with you." her weak voice echoed in his head in repeat, making him fluster.

"A-ah, I uhm I" Marinette's gaze made him nervous, and the way she was wrapping her legs around his waist made him desire things he wasn't proud of. Thankfully, he was still in control of his emotions...Kinda.

Breathless, he kept thinking as she kept looking at him with tears falling from her eyes. Chat wasn't sure of what to do. All he felt was his heart beating fast and loud. The power of those words... He wasn't sure how to control himself from kissing her. But it wasn't right. Right now, Marinette wasn't in her right mind. Wrapping his arms around her, Chat noticed how she quickly stopped hugging him, and looked at him as she placed her hands on his cheeks, taking a good look at his green eyes more closely now.

"My lady....My Marinette..." unable to keep the words in his mouth, he left them be. " ... I shouldn't have run away, I'm sorry."

Marinette smiled warmly, pulling Chat's face towards her's and tilting her head a bit to the side... And before Chat noticed, Marinette stole a kiss, not giving him the chance to react. He warmed up from her touch, as her lips caressed his in a slow rhythm... Chat's eyes popped open in surprise, he was completely frozen. What was going on? His mind was on blank, and before he noticed...He left his body do his will, not thinking about the consequences...

Pulling all his weight in top of her delicate body, made her lay back. Passionately replying to her kiss, in a more rough way. The movement from their lips fastened, making a bit of sound in the silent room and causing their breaths to get heavy. Without noticing, Chat's hands were moving on their own. Placing a hand on her head, then caressing her dark hair gently, he began to lower the other one to her waist. Pulling up her shirt a bit, slipping the hand all the way to her back. Feeling her curves from her lower back, all the way up, making him more breathless that he already was. Marinette's hand moved weakly, running from his arm, all the way to his shoulder, feeling the leather in Chat's suit, then wrapping both arms around his neck once again as she focused on feeling Chat's passionate reaction.

As he felt Marinette's touch, he couldn't help losing complete control. Moving away his lips from hers, he began kissing her cheeks, and then her jaw...Chat was slowly going down all the way to her neck, Kissing it gently and slowly for her to enjoy the feeling, then he began biting a bit, unconsciously. Without measuring his actions, he roughly bit her one last time. Causing a faint moan escape her mouth, he stopped.Chat looked up at Marinette, whose hair was all messed up, and the shirt was barely covering her. She looked so defenseless, he knew it wasn't right to do this. Only god knew if she was going to regret this all this tomorrow.

Realizing his actions, he backed off. "Marinette.. I'm... I'm sorry. Oh my god...." all his face got red from all that happened, he would barely speak.

A sudden knock came from Mari's door, making Chat startled. 

"Marinette? Are you okay? I heard voices." her mom asked from below the door. And before she opened it... Chat Noir was gone.


	5. Two sides of the same coin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette wakes up, only to be attacked by her own mind, making her take a rough decision for herself. As for Adrien, he's having the time of his life, not quite aware of what problem he just got into.  
> Will Marinette's feelings change towards Adrien and incline towards Chat?
> 
> Two different feelings. But the same event.

The very next day, Marinette woke up on a puddle of sweat, making her skin feel sticky, and her hair wet. Quickly, she stood up, grossed out by it. Not much memory of what had happened yesterday, but some weak images crossed her mind reminding her bits and pieces. She wasn't sure if it was all part of a dream, since she was such a vivid dreamer. But could it be? The pictures that ran in her mind were specially about her partner, but it was all so absurd and illogical, she convinced herself it was just another weird dream of hers. Opening her arms to stretch a bit, with a slow rhythm, Marinette made her way towards the little bathroom that was located in that same room. Before she could pass the door frame, a little red kwami appeared right in front of her.

"Tikki!" Marinette was startled by her magical kwami jumping out on her from nowhere. "My gosh, don't appear like that."

Tikki looked at her with her eyes full of suspicion. "Oi ...Mari...Are you okay?" The kwami got closer to Marinette and checked her temperature. Thankfully, she didn't have fever anymore.

Marinette nodded, smiling at her kwami who floated once again in front of her but with a weird behavior. "Well, my head is hurting a bit but it's nothing I can't handle. Are you okay?" She glazed at Tikki's expression to figure out what exactly ran in that little head of hers.

With a nervous laugh, Tikki replied. "Hahaha... Me? I'm alright. Yea yea, I'm just gonna rest up some more. Go ahead with your shower." a little giggle escaped her mouth "You smell a bit."

Why was Tikki so nervous?

Raising an eyebrow from Tikki's awfully awkward reaction, she decided it was best not to keep digging in that hole. Perhaps later Tikki would tell her whatever was that bothered her.

"Well..." Marinette pouted a bit. "Alright"

Closing the door behind her, she started to undress, taking off her pink polka dotted shirt and her light blue shorts with laziness. Still with her bra on, Marinette got close to the sink. Grabbing her pastel pink toothbrush, she carefully applied the toothpaste and began cleaning her teeth. Feeling a weird sensation on her lips, as if they were a bit swollen. That made her think for a bit, as she kept staring at the little mirror. Gazing at herself, she noticed a mark in the area of the collarbone and neck. With her fingers, she tried to rub if off, but noticed that it hurt with touch. After a good shake, Marinette looked more closely, seeing teeth marks in her neck and a little hickey.

"Oh my god no no no!" She gasped, confused, covering herself with her hands.

Then it all came back to her. The way she felt the devouring need to see him last night, to see Chat Noir. The one person who she couldn't keep off her mind for days, but the one person who she'd hurt multiple times. She remembered of how the snow fell in her face as she waited for him. Remembering as well all the naive things that slipped her mouth and how she claimed her love for him. It was all so clear now, her feelings towards him. But the weirdest part was not feeling regret. Marinette was ashamed and terrified, but she certainly didn't regret her actions at all. How her sudden kissed caused his hands to moved across her body to explore it... The memory his lips gently caressing hers made it it harder to stop thinking about him and how it all felt so warm the whole time. Even now, her heart couldn't rest. She sat in the bathroom floor as she kept her mouth covered in shock.

Marinette thought that was a dream, but it was clear it wasn't. And now Chat knew her identity. What was she going to do? She couldn't do much, they already screw it up. Thankfully, Chat didn't took out his transformation, so not everything was lost. Why was she so eager to keep things secret? Would it be because of their safety? Or maybe because she already felt something for Adrien...

She wasn't sure...

After her long shower, she dressed up in comfortable clothes and sat in her desk's chair, looking at the monitor which projected a screensaver of Adrien. Tikki came out of her little box and sat in top of the computer's mouse, quite sure Marinette was having some sort of panic attack.Not many seconds passed before Marinete broke the silence and stopped cringing.

"Oh my god Tikki, I freaking kissed him!" Marinette's own words made her tremble nervously. "Kiss? No... No... I Stole a kiss." with her voice almost fading she kept talking to herself, analyzing last night's recent event. "Much worse. I fucking told him I loved him oh my...." She covered her face with her hands, trying to calm down but pathetically failing at it. "I told him I..."

Tikki flew towards Mari and pulled her hand so she could see her face.

"Mari..." Tikki called her name to make her reason.

Biting her lip, she replied to Tikki's seriousness. "W-what?"

"I was in my box, so I don't know what happened after I left exactly but" She took a little pause. "You were burning in fever. Chat knows and he understands you weren't in your right mind at the time. If it wasn't for him you could have been discovered or even worse..." After a long pause, a little giggle escaped from her little mouth. "Although the look in his face when he saw you...when he saw the real you was quite hilarious." She looked at Marinette's blushing expression, looking even more red than Tikki.

"I don't understand how are you so calm, I wasn't supposed to reveal my identity to anyone. You said it to me once." She looked at Tikki confused.

Sighting, Tikki replied. "This wasn't anyone fault Marinette. The transformation just...cancelled. Your body rejected it suddenly. If it wasn't for him, you would still be on that roof freezing to death. He now knows who you are, but you have no idea of who he is right? At Least things are still kinda under control." Tikki stayed thoughtful for a second. "And I trust you're different Mari..."

Raising an eyebrow, she gently held Tikki in her palm, "Wait wait, what do you mean?"

"Do you think it's the first time a Ladybug or Chat Noir revealed themselves? In the past, there were many times when that brought problems and chaos. Even rivalry. My dear Marinette, sometimes ignorance is bliss. This way, I can make sure history won't repeat itself..." Tikki stayed quiet for a bit, as if she remembered something hurtful, but she quickly shaked that feeling away. "You two were chosen to protect Paris from hawkmoth, and if Ladybug and Chat Noir can't work as a team, then Hawkmoth will most definitely win. So the risk is not worth it. Thankfully, Chat just looked surprised...or even more in love I would say" She giggled again, Making Marinette fluster.

"D-do you think he knows me in real life?" Marinette raised her voice a bit from the nerves.

Laughing, she floated and gave a little flip. "Perhaaaps~" She said with a cute little rhythm.

"Is that a yes or a no?" Marinette looked eager for a response but Tikki just kept laughing.

Flying around playfully, Tikki changed the subject harshly. "Hehe, If I was you I would be more focused on that little love triangle you have there."

Standing up with her cheeks colored with a dark shade of red, Marinette crossed her arms. "It's not a love triangle!." she gulped. "Besides, I may be confused but I'm clearly aware that Adrien doesn't notice me at all."

"But Chat Noir does." Tikki mentioned with a little warm smile.

"I know... which is why I'm so confused. Why do i feel like I like them both anyways? I just wish it was all easier...Maybe if Adrien and Chat were the same person.... Agh, what am I even talking about! They are both clearly so different." She sat back down, spinning in the chair wildly. "And I don't like Chat." She added with a little pout.

"Oh my..." Tikki giggled as she saw Marinette fight with herself.

Stopping roughly, something captivated Marinette's attention... As she looked through the window behind the desk, she noticed a little gift bag, tied to the window frame.

"What's that?" She stood up from the chair and walked towards the window, standing up next to the desk. Tikki looked surprised as well, she hadn't noticed that detail in all day either.

Carefully opening the window, Marinette took her hand out and grabbed the bag quickly so it wouldn't fall to the street. Closing back the window, she contemplated the little gift bag.

"What are you waiting for Mari? Open it. I'm curious!" Tikki said as she flew around the gift.

Who was this from?

Who was she kidding? She knew perfectly who that was from.

As she peeked inside the baby blue gift bag, the saw a pink polka dotted piece of clothes folded inside, and on top, a note besides some little bags of tea. With trembling fingers, she took out the stuff carefully and placed it in top of the desk. A rich aroma was involved with the gifts thanks to the tea bags. A smile was born in her lips as she noticed the piece of clothing was a scarf. It looked so stunning and fancy, with detailed sewing. It felt soft and made of quality material, she gently ran her fingers until geting at the end of the scarf, where the laced boarding was. Marinette noticed the official boarding of Gabriel Agreste. Gasping, she blushed as the fashion nerd she was. That was part of the new winter collection of this year! It was so expensive... How could it be posible?

"Wow that looks beautiful." Tikki mentioned, opening her little eyes widely.

"But Tikki look!" Marinette showed her the boarding. "T-this is not just any scarf. This is something really expensive..." She paused as her blushing increased, gulping, some fainted words escaped her lips. "That silly cat..."

Marinette wrapped the Scarf around her neck, feeling more warm now. She couldn't believe Chat would figure out she loved Gabriel Agreste's designs. Quickly, she sat in the desk's chair, then grabbing the closed letter. Removing a cute cat paw that closed the letter's envelope, Marinete sticked it in Tikki's cheek playfully.

" E-ey not fair." Tikki laughed as she tried to remove the sticker from her cheek with her little arms, making Marinette laugh along.

Concentrating again, Marinette began to read the message in that light green paper, an so did Tikki. The words were cursive and looked stunning, It was obvious he took a lot of effort to make the letter look this cute.

My dear Purr-incess (or perhaps, Buggaboo):

Marinette couldn't help but giggle as she read that part.

Anyways...It doesn't matter, as long as it's you.

Please don't be pissed at me, I had no choice but to stay. This wasn't the way I wanted our identities to be revealed, well... yours, but you get the idea my lady. Although, your fever made me hear some particular things. I'm not sure if you remember them well, but I do. And I'll cherish your words, even if they aren't true.

I love you...

I know It's not much, but I put a few herbal tea bags in there furr your fever. :3 And don't forget to use this scarf if you go out, we wouldn't want the paw-sibility of you to get worse now, wouldn't we?... I'll see you soon Marinette.

\- Your loyal Knight, C.N. 


	6. The misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monday is here. But are Adrien and Marinette ready for it?  
> Suddenly, it feels like they've exchanged roles. Adrien can't stop acting like a fanboy and Marinette is just overthinking what just happened with Chat 24/7. But how will Adrien react when he misunderstands her sadden reaction?

Before entering to the class room, Marinette fixed her new scarf to cover up the hickey that Chat had left in her neck the other day. Blushing from the sudden memory, she took many breaths before entering. As she looked up, she saw Alya in her chair, looking at her phone until she realized Marinette had entered the classroom. Alya had an red hoodie with black dots, which only made Marinette laugh. As she sat, Alya pouted.

"What are you laughing at girl?" Alya turned her red face towards Marinette while frowning. "It better not be because of my hoodie."

Marinette took out her coat as she laughed. "Me? I would never."

Looking at the sweater more carefully, she noticed it said something. Reading it out loud, she couldn't help to laugh more. "If lost, return to cat? HAHAHA Is that a couple's hoo-" Alya covered Marinette's mouth as she saw Nino standing in front of the door together with Adrien, as if they were speaking. Marinette's laughter increased as she noticed Nino's black hoodie with a green paw which said 'If lost return to bug'.

"SHHHH It was a present, Shut up." She whispered to Marinette as she let go of her, uncovering her mouth.

Bitting her lip to control herself, she looked at her friend who was blushing. "Okay Okay" her goofy smile made Alya roll her eyes.

Looking down, Alya noticed Marinette's new scarf. It was kinda weird for her to be wearing a scarf inside the building, specially since it had the heaters on. "What's that? I've never seen that with you before." grinning, she couldn't help but to do a goofy smile at Marinette, making the blue eyed girl blush hysterically. "It's a gift isn't it?" Alya said as she noticed Mari's reaction.

Trembling nervously and laughing, she scratched the back of her head. "T-this? Pffffff. N-no..."

Raising an eyebrow, Alya couldn't help but to give Marinette her cold look.

"Fine" Marinette sighted. "I.. I'ts from the guy I told you about." Her gaze lowered, but before Alya could speak, Mari looked at her again seriously. "But please, I don't want to talk about it. I-I'm still sorting my feelings out."

Exchanging looks, Alya nodded. "Alright... But I'm here for you." She smiled at Marinette warmly, making her calm down and smile too.

'Why couldn't Marinette tell her the truth?'

Something was fishy...

While waiting quietly for class to start, Alya and Marinette both kept looking at Nino and Adrien for a while. The boys kept talking about something down there for quite a bit. It seemed weird that they hadn't moved from the same spot for some minutes now. Usually, they quickly sit down and socialize with the girls first.

"What's up with those two." Alya asked to herself as she raised an eyebrow, looking at Nino pulling Adrien towards their sits, but failing.

~~~POV CHANGE

Meanwhile, Adrien's body shaked tremendously, leaving him immobile in front of the door.

"Nope, I can't do it." Adrien's cheeks turned red as he tried not to look at Marinette who was obviously looking his way.

Nino pulled Adrien's arm trying to help his poor friend. "What the hell do you mean you can't do it? What's wrong with you bro?"

"I do-don't know, I can't move. I..I..." he gulped as Nino turned around to see Alya and Marinette waving at them. Marinette's warm smile immediately made Adrien blush even more.

Nino raised an eyebrow as he noticed Adrien's reaction from their waving. "Wait a minute... Dudeeee." he laughed. "Are you nervous because of Marinette?"

Softly punching Nino in the arm, Adrien replied. "Don't talk so loud Nino!" he coughed a bit, still not cured from his cold. "And no..."

"This is gold" He kept laughing as Adrien tried to make him shut up.

"What's up?" A wild Alya suddenly appeared making both of the boys jump surprised.

Adrien quickly noticed Marinette was still in her chair, looking at her notebook. That made him calm down a bit.

"Oh Alya you won't even belie-" Nino got interrupted by a Adrien, who suddenly covered his mouth.

"Bro code." Adrien quickly reminded his friend, making Nino sigh. Adrien curiously looked back at Alya, noticing her new sweater, and then looked back at Nino, who was blushing a bit now. "Ohhhh wait I see what's going on here." Adrien exclaimed as he laughed, coughing a bit now and then between the laughs. "Ladybug and Chat Noir hoodies, that's perfect." His nerves calmed down from the good laugh he was having.

"Oh god not you too." Alya facepalmed

"S-shut up A-adrien." Nino whispered at his friend as he punched him in the arm, staying there, speechless and nervous. "Looks good on you." Nino added, making Alya blush. And suddently, making Adrien laugh even more now.

"HAHAHAHA" Adrien couldn't control his laughter after seeing his friend's new soft side." Now this really is gold."

"Fuck you" he looked away, Making Alya laugh too.

~~~~

As Marinette checked her notebook, a sudden voice calling her name surprised her. Looking to her side, she saw Nath standing there with a rolled poster in his hands.

"Oh, hey Nath." She gave a warm smile. The red haired boy blushed from her kindness.

He stood next to her as he nervously smiled. "H-hey." he greeted with a shy tone. " You remember the other day when the whole class was in the library right?" Marinette nodded as she smiled, eager to hear what Nathaniel was going to say. It was a weird sight to see him talking to anybody. "W-well... You defended Chat Noir so well so I thought that perhaps you were a fan..."

Marinette's smile fade, and she looked at him confused almost blushing. Could it be that he was Chat Noir? But he wasn't blonde... Maybe that was a side effect of his Miraculous? It was weird that Nathaniel was talking to her, specially about Chat Noir.

Not quite sure of what to say, she kept looking at him, analyzing him. "Yea... You could say I'm a fan. Why?" She raised an eyebrow.

He looked around nervously as he extended his arm, offering a poster to her. "I-It took a while so that's why I'm giving it to you now... And Christmas is going to be here soon so you could say It's an early Christmas present..." His voice quivered, making him blush more.

Curious of the content in the poster, she gently grabbed it and opened it, only to reveal a magnificent digital art work of Chat Noir. It all looked so detailed, from Chat's wet hair from rain,the black leather costume, to the light and shading. The background showed a part of Paris buildings and roofs, as well the Eiffel tower shining from afar. The moonlight reflected in Chat's skin giving it a mystical touch to the art. It looked so beautiful and professionally well done, so magical. It almost looked like a picture.

"Oh my... Nathaniel. I love it!" From the excitement she stood up and gave him a friendly hug, thankful for her gift.

Not sure of how to react, Nath blushed, letting a warm smile escape from his lips. "No problem..." He replied softly as he hugged her tighter, appreciating the moment.

~~~~~~~~POV CHANGE

"Dude." Nino punched softly Adrien's arm to make him notice the scene that was happening in front of them.

Alya turned around too as Adrien watched. "Oh...Is that the mystery guy?" The words slipped from Alya's mouth as she misunderstood the situation, Making Adrien glare at Nathaniel quite bothered by the scene

"Mystery guy?" Adrien asked as he looked back at Alya, who bit her own lip.

"G-girlcode(?" She laughed nervously, knowing she kinda screw it up.

Adrien stared at Marinette and Nath, feeling how his heart stopped. He had no right to be jealous, not in his normal form anyways. While looking away, he walked towards them.

"Bro no..." Nino tried to stop him but Adrien had already interrupted the moment between Mari and Nath.

"Hey guys." Adrien fakely smiled at them, making them separate from each other. Surprised, Marinette smiled back at him, making him blush.

Alya and Nino looked at each other as they both walked to the scene too, curious of what was happening.

"A-drien! Hi" Marinette said flustered as she saw him, but felt a little pain in her chest from the guilt of still liking him...

'That wasn't fair for Chat Noir' Marinette thought, as she tried to calm down her nerves a bit. Luckly for Adrien, Marinette was too focused on her own thoughts, she didn't noticed his weird attitude. Adrien threw a hateful look, directed to Nathaniel, who was looking at Adrien with unpleasure too.

"Hey.." Nath greeted seriously, feeling a bit awkward. After some seconds of total silence, Nino quickly pulled Adrien's shirt to make him realize how awkward he was making things.

Alya looked at everyone with confusion, quite lost. "Uh, What's that?" She pointed at the rolled poster in top of the table, breaking the silence and attempting make things chill.

"Nathaniel made this for me" Marinette smiled at Nath while she spoke. The scene was making Adrien annoyed, crossing his arms, he waited for Marinette to open it.

"I bet It must be wonderful." Those words slipped from Adrien's mouth with a sour tone and sarcasm, not meaning what he actually said. Thankfully, Marinette was too clueless to notice Adrien's jealousy.

"Dude chill." Nino whispered at his friend, making Adrien sigh.

But Nino was right, Adrien took a deep breath and looked at Mari, whose eyes shined as she unrolled the poster.

"It's really amazing, Nathaniel captured Chat's presence perfectly" Mari explained, capturing Adrien's attention completely.

Nathaniel blushed as she unfolded the poster again to show it off. Nino gasped as he saw it, and Alya smiled. "Well that's awesome! I'll take a picture for my Ladyblog." Alya said as she took out her phone, opening up the camera app and bending down to find the right position for the poster to look good.

"I-it's not that great..." Nath said humbly, as he scratched the back of his head nervously with his face looking redder that his hair.

Surprised, Adrien started to laugh from his own childish jealousy. This was all because of a poster of himself. "Wow Nathan, That's truly amazing." he said honestly.

Nathaniel eased up, but still looked at Adrien with suspicion, not sure if he was being mocked. And in a matter of seconds, everyone moved to see the poster, looking at it amazed. Even the people from the back row took a peek. Nath was surprised for his classmate's reactions. Everyone gazed at the poster with amazement.

"Woah that's dope" Alix and Kim said at the same time, then looking at each other with hate, still mad about the remote control incident at the library.

"It certainly looks beautiful! ~ <3" Rose said as she giggled. "Can you make me one of Prince Ali?"

"Chat Noir looks so Badass." Ivan said as Mylene nodded.

"Specially under all that rain" Julekka bit her lip as she fangirled internally.

Everyone kept complementing the art, making Nath smile. "Told you it was wonderful" Marinette said, making him more shy.

"Thank you Marinette." He blushed, looking down.

Nino gazed at his blonde friend to see his look, but surprisingly, he didn't look mad anymore. He looked relieved.

"Can I see more of your art?" The kind Rose asked gently, making everyone gaze at Nath.

He looked at Marinette, not sure of what to do. But she quickly whispered "Go on." A warm smile grew on his lips, feeling happy from her encouragement.

"Sure, It's in my bag, follow me." The red haired boy said, feeling a bit more confident.

Everyone left to follow Nath,exept for Marinette, Nino, Alya and Adrien. All four of them sat in their sits, and Nino couldn't help but to notice Adrien who was lost in the poster while laughing like an idiot.

Adrien kept looking at the drawing and gazing at the dark haired girl he was in love with at the same time, with a huge dorky smile. Marinette felt a bit anxious to have so much of his attention today.

"Are y-you alright A-adrien?" She asked concerned, but anxious as well as she felt his gaze all over her.

"Me?" He asked as his elbow rested in her table, and his hand held the weight of his cheek, looking completely lovestruck. "I'm perfect." His green eyes met hers, then gazing down to her lips, made his pale cheeks to blush more.

All 3 of his friends were confused of his behaviour.

But as for Adrien, he wasn't thinking straight. He felt happiness, a unexplainable kind of happiness. His Lady... His Marinette....He couldn't keep that thought out of his head... Ladybug did like Chat Noir after all... That was like a dream come true to him, something that he thought it would never happen.

Adrien's lovestruck look changed for a cat smile as he looked once again at the poster. "Wait, so you really are a fan of Chat Noir?" He asked bluntly with a grin in his face.

Marinette blushed and bit her lip. "Y-yes..." She looked away, feeling even more guilty now.

Her blushing face made him smile more. He was so glad it was a misunderstanding. He almost lost his cool because of his dumb jealousy.

"Well that's really adorable" those words escaped his lips without him noticing. "Shit." he coughed a bit, as he completely freaked out, hitting his own chest to calm down the cough.

Alya and Nino looked at the situation quietly, enjoying it way too much, exchanging funny looks.

"Huh...?" Her smile completely fade as she noticed his random complement, making her face to be even redder than usual.

"W-what I meant is, you're adorable. Shit. that's not what I meant, wait, don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you you're not adorable. Heck, you're gorgeous . Wait no, what? Hahaha...." Nino touched Adrien's shoulder as he whispered to his friend.

"You're making it worse, shut up." Nino began to laugh nervously along with Adrien as they both turned around finally giving Mari the space she desired to brake down and lose her posture. Luckly for her, she had Alya, who was patting her back as she rested her head in the desk.

~~~~~ POV CHANGE

"What the fuck!" Nino whispered to Adrien, making sure the girls didn't hear them. "The other day you were so chill and now you sound like a freaking fangirl."

"I don't know man!" Adrien replied with his body now completely red.

"Heck, you were even going to slice poor Nathaniel up... You know what? After class we are having a little chit chat." His tone was definitive, not giving Adrien much of a choice.

"Kill me please." Adrien said stressfully as he covered his boiling red face with his hand.

But before Nino could continue lecturing his friend, the teacher entered ready to begin her class. 

"Alright class, Everybody to their sits and with their tablets on their tables" Mrs. Bustier said as she looked at everyone in class.

"Later, but I will if you keep acting like a puss" Nino ended the conversation, Making Adrien embarrassed.

 

~~~~~~~~After class...

 

"Hold it riiiight up!" Nino commanded from the other side of the hallway. Adrien's attempt to run away at lunch had failed tremendously.

Other student's looked at Nino with weirdness, but Adrien just laughed nervously. Before he could react, Nino grabbed his friend's wrist, Pulling Adrien to the locker room with a serious look. They exchanged looks for a minute as they waited for Mylenne, who was checking her locker, to go out of the place. She quickly closed the locker's door and ran off as soon as she noticed the tense air.

"Woah woah take it easy dude." Adrien said still laughing, but suddenly coughing a bit from his cold.

Nino looked at his friend with disapproval as he crossed his arms. "That's what I said to you this morning, what's up with you bro?"

Gulping, Adrien thought a bit. He wanted Nino to know the truth about his double life almost all the time, and right now was one of those days. Sadly, he knew that was certainly impossible. Lying to your best friend isn't easy as you think it would be.

"I uh..." Adrien scratched the back of his head nervously. "Listen, Nino. I really have no way of explaining what's happening to me." his look lowered as he analyzed his thoughts.

Looking at his friend, Nino sighed,as he sat in the little bench of the room.

"But can you try?" he asked once more.

Adrien nodded. "I..I just. I don't know Nino, I never thought of Marinette in the romantic way till some weeks ago. I guess It just happened. Don't worry about it, it's just a silly crush, doesn't mean anything." Who was he kidding, a crush? He adored her.

"Doesn't seem like that tho. Bro, not to be a downer but you looked totally lovestruck. Last week you seemed interested but now it's different, I don't know..." He raised an eyebrow as he smiled a bit. "Did something happen young Agreste?"

Those words made poor Adrien brake, making sudden memories to run in his head. "W-wWHAT, N-no." His face turned, and before he could continue talking, he began to cough again.

"Chill dude, just kidding." He laughed as he took a water bottle from his backpack and offered it to Adrien.. "Still sick huh? Looks like there's a virus running around. It even got Chloe sick today. " He stood up and patted Adrien's back to help him ease up the coughs.

"Y-yea...A virus." Adrien looked away as he drank from the bottle, trying to calm down his nerves.

Suddently, a phone rang, saving Adrien from having to explain anything more. Nino picked up, smiling as he saw the contact calling him.

"H-Hey.." His voice sounded shakey. "Yeah, I'll be right there....Okay....Yeah... Bye." Nino hanged up. Still focused on the screen.

Noticing what just happened, Adrien's face created a funny grin. "Haaaa! I see, I see. Nino has a girl now doesn't he?" As he pronounced those words, it felt Ironic. This time, Nino was the one blushing hysterically and Adrien was the one with the funny looks.

Shaking his head he replied. "We're not a couple Adrien."

"Yet." Adrien completed, making his friend laugh shyly.

"Yet." Nino repeated. "That's my goal, so I'm going to leave you here for a while. Dude, Please don't kill poor Nathaniel while I'm gone alright?"

Dramatically pressing his hand in his chest, he raised his voice. "Me? I would never!" Quickly, their laughs echoed in the room.

"Liar." Nino kept laughing as he walked towards the door. "See ya."

Taking a deep breath, Adrien opened his shirt's pocket to check on Plagg.

"I knew you would act like a puss today." Plagg quickly commented as soon as Adrien looked down.

"I didn't act like a...Well just a bit." He admitted. "But Today I'll reveal myself to her so everything is going to be less weird n-" Plagg jumped out of the pocket as he crossed his little arms, interrupting Adrien's little speech. And making the shine of his eyes disappear.

"Absolutely not."

Frowning, Adrien looked at him. "What do you mean absolutely not!, I already know it's her. Soit's no big deal." But deep down Adrien knew it actually was a big deal, he didn't even know if she would like Adrien too. There were so many risks, but for him. It was worth it.

Plagg shaked his head in disapproval "I already know how all this works, and I'm sure Tikki spoke to Marinette about it. Ladybug and Chat Noir have been the best of partners since the very beginning of time, but after revealing, things always go down the hill."

Still not sure of what Plagg meant, he kept frowning. "So?"

"What do you mean with 'So?', Idiot. The past's Ladybugs and Chat Noirs always fall in love, and when I say always I mean always." Adrien's eyes recovered color as he heard Plagg's words, making Plagg annoyed. "And that's not good Adrien." he tried to make him understand.

"I still don't see your point. All I see is the possibility of Marinette loving me back." He honestly declared, while smiling proudly.

"Love leads to chaos! That's why! Don't you see?" Plagg floated in fron of Adrien, as he raised his little voice. Adrien had never seen Plagg with such an attitude. "In the past, if their love went wrong that meant the end of their partnership, leaving their mission in danger. But the worst time was when Felix...when he..." Plagg stopped for a minute, looking down thoughtfully, as if a sad memory had crossed his head. "Never mind."

Worried, Adrien grabbed gently Plagg, letting him sit in the palm of his hand. "...What happened then, Plagg?"

The little kwami trembled as he held his little tears in. Adrien had never seen Plagg like that. He was shocked. "I'm sorry Plagg... I won't force you to explain... I promise I won't tell her who I am."

Plagg nodded, not quite capable of holding the tears anymore. "I'm sorry.." Adrien repeated once again, then caressing his kwami's head softly. The scene broke Adrien's heart. He wasn't sure what Plagg meant or who this Felix guy was, but this was not the time to think of himself. If he could never reveal himself to Marinette, It won't matter, because he had her close to him even if that meant as a friend.

Minutes later, Plagg hid in Adrien's hoodie pocket as they heard voices coming towards the lockers. Quickly on guard, Adrien looked at the door but noticed it was just Nathaniel and Julekka entering to leave some books in the lockers. Adrien quickly opened his locker to simulate that he was doing something. But after some seconds, he could feel Nathaniel's gaze all over him. Gently closing his locker after getting his lunch box, he walked towards the door to leave. Before going out, he looked back to see Nathaniel giving him a dirty look. Unconsciously, Adrien glared at him with hate as well.

...

The young blonde walked down the hall, aware of how late it was already. Adrien decided to go outside to search for a place to sit. He walked with a slow rhythm as he shoved his hands inside the hoodie's pocket, feeling how Plagg curled up around his fingers. He knew that he had to keep it a secret for now, his identity. But for the last few days he had created such a perfect scenario in his head.. Of course he was feeling heart broken right now. Ever since that day... All Adrien desired was to tell her the truth. It was kind of disappointing to find out he couldn't actually do that at all. At first, that nigh, Adrien was scared of course, he had just figured out who his lady was. But then, he thought 'hey, If we both reveal each other's identities, then we can be together... right?' well his plans were screwed now. How was he supposed to make Marinette fall for him if she already loved him...only that she didn't knew it! Gosh, it was a hard day for poor Adrien Agreste.

As soon as he walked down the stairs, he noticed Marinette sitting on top of the last steps. She looked farr away, as if she was thinking something serious. Adrien knew that perhaps this wasn't the best moment to get close to her, but he just couldn't resist.

"H-Hey." Adrien greeted while blushing as he walked down the stairs. His voice made her suddenly gasp and look back surprised.

"H-Hey!" She said nervously, while looking away quickly.

Adrien wasn't sure why she sometimes did that. Sometimes she spoke to him perfectly normal, and sometimes she completely avoid him... He was confused.

Adrien bend down and sat next to her, as his gaze kept admiring her. Gosh she was so beautiful, even winter clothes looked dashing on her. Her dark hair was tied in two ponytails, but it was trapped under her pink scarf... The scarf that he gave to her. Looking at her, he smiled, still contemplating her...

"Why are you wearing a scarf inside the building? They have the heaters on, aren't you hot?" He asked out loud, still happy that she was using it.

Marinette got nervous with that question, she coughed a bit. It was ironic that he asked that to her... because there she was, her heart pounding for him and for another guy at the same time.

"I uhm. I'm a bit sick so yea." She said as an excuse for the scarf, but it wasn't a total lie to be honest.

"Ohh I see." He kept looking at her, admiring her without even caring if she noticed his feelings or not. "That's from my dad's line isn't it?" he acted clueless, but still with a grin in his face.

"T-this? Yes..." She looked down at the end of the light pink scarf, making her a bit confused about her feelings at the moment.

Marinette trembled as she felt the weight of his gaze. Why was Adrien looking at her like that? Marinette looked at him back, suddenly their eyes met. A warm smile grew in his lips, making her smile back with the same kindness. They both looked at each other. Not fully aware of his actions, Adrien leaned in, Making Marinette's smile to fade as she started to tremble in fear, closing her eyes.

He wasn't going to do anything...weird was he?

But luckily, she felt as Adrien took her hair out from under the scarf to fix it along with the scarf. As she opened her eyes, Adrien Laughed a bit.

"I didn't meant to startle you" He finished up fixing the scarf. "There we go, better." before Adrien could say anything more, he coughed a bit.

She felt dumb, like in a whole new level.

"T-thanks." raising an eyebrow, she kept looking at him. And after a few seconds of silence, she spoke."You're sick too huh?" A little chuckled escaped from her lips, making Adrien Blush.

"Y-yea...I am." He looked away to hide his blushing as he took out his lunch box from his bag and opened it. "Marinette..." He changed the subject as his cheeks darkened. "I'm so grateful that you're my friend."

Startled by the sudden confession, she kept listening.

"If It weren't for you, I would've stayed in the janitor's room locked and over thinking silly stuff. You don't know how grateful I am..." He looked down at his food as he thought for a bit.

Warmed up by his words, she placed her hand in his shoulder, quickly gaining his attention. "Adrien, I'll be here for you anytime. And to be honest you cheered me up that time too, I was having a rough week."

"I'm glad I did..." He looked back at his food, trying to hide his blushing. After some minutes of silence, he looked at her again. "Want some?" He offered half of his gourmet food.

Shaking her head she laughed. "No thanks, I already ate."

"Did you now?" he smiled as he started eating, but quickly stopping after a while, feeling so nervous because of her presence.

"Have'd you ever been in love Adrien?" That sudden question made him choke on his food.

"W-what!" He coughed nervously. "W-why do you ask?" he nervously closed his lunchbox and looked at her.

Her attention was somewhere else, like if she was thinking of something else... Something hurtful.

"...Nevermind." She said, looking down with melancholy.

He looked at her hurting... Was he the cause of that sad look on her face? He had to do something....And fast. "Marinette..." He called her as he placed his hand in top of hers, capturing her attention. "Tell me, what's wrong?"

Marinette bit her lip as she tried to get a hold of herself. Adrien's honest look was enough to make her spill out her feelings. She couldn't lie to him. "I-I'm not sure of what love is..." She finally confessed while braking. "I thought I knew but now I have no idea of what It really is...I'm such a mess." Her other hand rubbed her eye, trying to hide away some tears. "I'm a horrible person..."

Adrien was quite lost, he wasn't sure what she was talking about. Seeing her like that hurted him. Without thinking it twice, he pulled her over and hugged her, taking her by surprise.

"Y-you're not a horrible person Marinette..." His face became redder now as he spoke. "You're wonderful...The most sweetest and strong person I've met. And don't even dare to say that to yourself again." His hand began to caress her hair, making her control over her tears to fade.

Marinette hid her face in Adrien's chest as she let it all out.

Holding her tighter, he continued. "I don't think anyone actually knows what love is...Not even me to be honest." He smiled softly as he closed his eyes and rested his chin in top of her head. "But when it's real, You'll feel it, and it's not something you can mistake easily by any other feeling. I'm sure you've felt it before..." He mentioned, hoping it to be true. Hoping that Marinette loved him too... That she Loved Chat Noir.

"B-but" she spoke as she kept her face hidden. "What if I feel that same feeling for two people at once?" Her body trembled, ashamed of having admitted that out loud.

Adrien, opened his eyes in shock. "Two?" He whispered faintly, making his heart to stop. It hurt just from thinking about it. Marinette Loved someone else?

He kept silence, as he felt his whole world collapse.

And there he was, Picking up the broken pieces of Marinette...But who would pick up his?


	7. The struggle is real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything went downhill now that Adrien knew Marinette loved another. So he decided to ignore her both in school and in their double life. But little did he knew, his little kwami would make everything worse.

"These two kids are making me STRESSED" Alya was sitting in her assigned chair, as she crossed her arms and frequently moved her left leg from side to side. The tanned girl kept her eyes on Marinette and Adrien from afar with desperation and uneasiness. Something didn't seem quite right recently, and Alya was already aware of it. Her curious nature couldn't rest until she found out what exactly was it. But in the other hand, Nino seemed chill.

Interrupting Alya's stalking, the teacher raised her voice with seriousness to capture everyone's attention "Now, it's time to join together the two liquids. Be careful using the probe, I don't want any accidents today okay?" her voiced focused on that part, wanting to make her student's aware of what she meant. "This assignment is worth 70 points." Mrs. Mendeleiev, the science teacher, showed the students, with her own materials, how the result should be. As she tilted the probe with delicacy, dropping little by little the red liquid inside a jar that contained the blue liquid, she suddenly created a chemical reaction. The mixture of the two ingredients raised up from the jar, creating a cool colored spume. 

The Students watched fascinated, while Alya kept glancing at her two friends. Marinette was sitting in front of the classroom, in the same table as Nathaniel. Meanwhile, Adrien had been paired up with Ivan, next to Marinette's and Nathaniel's table... Luckily for Alya, the teacher paired her up with Nino, they were both in the last table at the back where she could see everything. As she kept looking, she noticed the blond model looking at her friend for the 200th time in that class. Mari never noticed of course, and surprisingly, it wasn't because of her clueless nature but because of her red haired Partner, Nathaniel. Alya's mind was a mess, she was eager to figure out who this "Mistery guy" was. Was it seriously Nathaniel? But how? He couldn't even speak to her without stuttering. He was just like Marinette when she tried to talk to Agreste. But for Alya, something seemed fishy, she sensed danger in the air for her friend regardless of who that guy was. Nobody would like a person who makes your best friend so sad all the time.

"I just don't get it Nino!" The dark skinned girl looked back at Nino after having enough of analyzing her friends from afar without a single clue of what was actually going on. She pulled her red glasses back, making them hold her wavy silky hair back as she rubbed her face with her hands.

Nino blushed from Cesaire's reaction. It was a rare view to see her without her glasses on, but the young lover quickly focused on the experiment once again (Since Alya was actually not being any help at the moment and this was his only chance to raise up his grades.) "Are you even taking notes?" He asked her with a chuckle as he began to mix the liquids just how the teacher showed them before.

"Uh, something like that." She looked down at her empty notebook just filled with doodles, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Noticing Alya's little lie, he laughed. "You're certainly the best science partner, Alya Cesaire." his wide smile was contagious, making Alya smile along with him. Without intention, they both created a weird mood between them.

"Shut up." Alya began to write in the blank pages to hide away her blushing. Not even a minute passed before she would open her mouth to speak again. "Come on, I'm sure you noticed they are both acting strange. First they were being friendly with each other, but now...Now they both seem weird."

With a little nod, Nino agreed. "Do you think something happened between them?" he asked as he watched the spume raise in the jar of the experiment creating the colored reaction he needed.

"I don't think so... I mean, Marinette tells me almost everything when it comes to Adrien. She literally could speak about him for hours ....Well, that was before the Mistery guy appeared.." Alya kept writing in her notebook, focusing a bit more on the experiment now.

Capturing his attention, Nino placed the probes in top of the work table and turned around to look at Alya with a raised eyebrow. "Wait. Mystery guy? Now that I think about it, you mentioned him last week too." Not sure what to think, Nino's light brown eyes analyzed Alya, who was laughing nervously, aware that she was braking the girl code by telling Nino the next thing...

"Well...I shouldn't be talking about it. But seemed like there's a guy who is totally head over heals over Mari." She sighted as she looked back at Marinette, who was focused on the project with her partner, Nathaniel. "...And to be honest... she looks interested in him too. But every time I ask more about him, Mari changes the subject. Judging from her reaction, I think something happened between them. But that's good, I mean, Adrien never seemed interested in Marinette. It's good that she's trying to move on." Alya's look moved from her friend, to Nino, who's face was full of worry. "Why do you put that face. Is something wrong?"

Nino gulped, knowing how screwed Adrien was. "You're telling me, Marinette doesn't like Adrien anymore?"

She raised her shoulders, shrugging. "Not necessary, I mean... I don't know. Why?"

Nino's gaze looked towards to his best friend, who kept looking at Marinette every 5 seconds from his table. "That dude is in love with Marinette." He admitted to Alya.

She stayed quiet as she looked at Nino, expecting to be a joke. "Wait, you're serious?" Nino nodded, as he looked back at her. She felt a sudden confusion."What kind of timing is that! Poor Marinette has been in love with him for more than a year now, and he decides to like her now?"

"It's incredible that you didn't notice it before. He had been acting strange for a while now." Nino commented as he continued the experiment. "Now there's only one mystery left here...." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile.

Marinette wrote notes in her tablet, as she looked at Nathaniel who was doing the last step of the experiment just like the teacher showed them earlier. As our dark haired protagonist kept looking at him, she noticed how his red hair his covered his eyes, making him struggle a bit as he poured the liquid in the jar. Nathaniel, blew at his hair to move it from his face but failed totally. Marinette couldn't help but giggle as she saw Nath struggle. 

"Wait, let me help you." Her pale hands moved towards the shy boy's hair, making him turn around, capturing off guard. The boy focused on Marinette's deep blue eyes as he held tightly the two probes while trying to stay calm.But that was of course, easier than done.

"I-it's alright, Don't w-worry." He tried to say shyly, not used to have her so close. 

Unfortunately, Marinette was way too dumb to see why was Nathaniel acting that way, and honestly she didn't notice how close she was to him. "This won't take long silly." Her fingertips ran from his forehead, pushing his bangs to the sides, all the way to behind his ear. Smiling friendly, Marinette stood back, still looking at him. "It's better now isn't it?"

Nodding, the red haired boy bit his lip as he looked away shyly. 

"You shouldn't hide your face so much, your eyes are really amazing." Mari commented cheerfully, as she looked back at the experiment to then unlock her tablet to keep taking notes.

Nathaniel eyes shined from the amazement, Marinette had just said that to him? This was unreal, first he was paired up with the girl from his dreams and now she had just complemented him. Nathaniel gulped his fears, and placed the probes in top of the desk, to then try and extend his hand towards hers so he could capture her attention away from the science work. 

Who knew? 

Maybe he could finally get to ask her to a date... But suddenly, before his hand could even touch hers... A loud sound captured everyone's attention, even Marinette's. 

It was Adrien, he had just dropped accidentally the probes, making the liquids to scatter on the floor. Ivan jumped back startled, and so did Adrien, trying to evade the liquid from getting them wet. Their experiment had failed, and the two liquids had exploded instead of creating the spume they needed for that class.

"Bruel and Agreste!" The teacher called the two young boys as she stood up from her desk. "Dare to explain?"

Nervous from having everyone looking at them, Adrien bent down to pick up the two probes that were laying on the floor. "I-I'm sorry, It was my fault.. I... M-my mind was elsewhere..." The golden haired boy gently tilted his head up, to gaze Marinette from the other side of the room, who was standing besides her own table while looking at him worried. Nathaniel as well was staring, not worried...but rather annoyed.

Ivan touched Adrien's shoulder to help him calm down his nerves, drifting away his attention from Marinette's table and look forward to his science partner. "Its alright Agreste, you just made a mistake." 

But Adrien knew it was no mistake, he was just being irresponsible. Heck, irresponsible? More like a jealous jerk. But what right did he had? He shouldn't be so startled when Nathaniel tried to make a move on her. He shouldn't be making things so complicated for his Lady. Although, the young Agreste wasn't sure if Nathaniel was actually the guy who Marinette was in love with, but he had to be. There was no one else. 

That was a dumb move, a dumb and selfish move. Days had passed since he last saw Marinette in his Chat Noir form, since the night of the revelation to be more specific... He knew she was looking for him though. Every single day Plagg would tell him that Ladybug was calling, but the fool always choose to ignore. He wasn't sure how to act around her, not even in school, where his princess had no idea of his real identity. He was now avoiding her both in school and in his double life.

Why was he being such a puss?

Ahhh, he sure as hell knew why.....

"I'm sorry teacher, don't let this affect Ivan's grade. I kinda mixed the wrong ingredients. My hands slipped." Adrien placed the probes where they belonged, in the table. Everyone quickly continued with their experiments as they noticed it was just a little mistake. Well, everyone exept for Marinette, she was completely worried for Adrien. 

She wasn't sure why Adrien was being so distant to her lately. It all seemed so weird. Even Chat Noir was ignoring her. She waited countless hours on their secret roof near the Eiffel tower for Chat in this week. Tikki was her only support right now, since she definitely could never speak of this with anyone. Not even her best friend who she always told every single detail of her love interests. Marinette was sure that her detective-like friend was already investigating, If there's anything Alya loved more than Ladybug, it was mysteries...

The teacher sighted as she furiously rubbed her forehead with her fingers. "Alright, I'll give you all more time tomorrow. But you have 10 points less Agreste. It's almost 3 a'clock. Please clean your work areas and equipment." Mrs. Mendeleiev glared at Adrien while talking. She was quite known for her short patience and hatred for mistakes. This was probably why she was the less liked teacher in the whole school.

 

 

Everyone in class began to follow the teacher's rules and cleaned up their desks. Not fully concentrated on their jobs ahead, both of the dumb protagonists kept their minds busy with thoughts of each other, while being totally convinced they had no hope with one another. Pretty ironic... Skinny love at it's finest.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Class end~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Adrien stood up in front of the school while hiding his hands inside his coat's pockets. The snow fell gently in his golden head, while the cold darkened his cheeks with a light blush. Making the image of him almost too beautiful to be true. Nino stood next to him, while rubbing his two hands which were covered with black gloves, to create heat for himself. Even though Nino was supposed to go home early today to prepare for his date today with Alya, he was used to wait for Adrien's limo to pick up his friend first, so he stayed a while longer. Now that Adrien's father was back in Paris, it was prohibited for Nino to visit his friend on the week ends etc. Gabriel Agreste had surely some anger issues.

"So." Nino's feet moved back and foward,trying to create heat. 

"So." Adrien moved his head to gaze over his friend, while repeating the same word. 

Nino wasn't sure how to act in such a situation. He never considered the idea of Marinette liking another dude other than Adrien. If he told him right now... he wasn't quite sure how Adrien was going to react. "When do you plan to make a move on Marinette?" That question slipped his mouth, knowing it was not a good conversation starter. "u-uhm" Nino looked away, knowing he was such a terrible friend for not telling him right away what Alya had just mentioned to him earlier.

Adrien's emerald green eyes stared at his friend for a while with suspicion, watching how Nino clumsily kept moving from side to side while shaking up the snow that fell on his red snapback which didn't match his coat at all.

"I.. uhm.." That question made him uncomfortable. Adrien hadn't really thought about making a move on Marinette, not in his real form anyways. Marinette would probably reject him. But even on his Chat Noir form, he wasn't sure either. "I'm not sure she would like that... Or I'm not sure she would like me." His wide green eyes lowered their gaze, looking at the snow resting on the ground as his eyes closed slowly...filling his mind with trouble thoughts of his lady.

Nino couldn't stand the sight of Adrien's insecurities. Suddenly punching Adrien's arm, the model jumped back startled,quickly snapping out of his negative thoughts. "Fricking millionaire, model, son of a Fashion designer and most of all... Adrien fucking Agreste." His tone raised up, not giving Adrien a chance to respond, but either, making him paralyzed from that sudden scolding. "Of course, no girl would fall for that. Pff Are you kidding me?" 

Getting a bit defensive, Adrien raised up his voice too. "No! Not her." He stayed in silence while a frustrate frown grew in his pale face and his voice broke. "Not her... She's more than that. It will take more than money, looks or status to make her fall for me. Marinette would probably like someone talented and with their own unique traits rather than a fake like me..."

"Fuck, Adrien!" Nino placed his hands on Adrien's wide shoulders as he stood up in front of him with determination. "And you don't have all that? Why do you think I'm your friend you dumb ass? I knew that under all that intimidating aura, there was a dork like you. You're kind, humble and awesome.. well sometimes you're a huge geek too, but don't you think Marinette saw that too? I know there's more to you than just photographs and an overly attached father." Adrien opened his mouth, moved by his friend's words, but before he could speak, Nino continued. " Adrien don't you dare give up on her before even trying, because she never did... So what if she likes someone else now?! Make her love you, make her see the real you." 

Adrien's eyes widened as he kept looking at Nino's decided face. He was right... Nino was absolutely right. He couldn't give up on her. She never did... What what?

" Wait wait hold on bro." Adrien raised up his hands ordering to stop. "She never did? The hell you're talking about? ..... And Woah how did you knew she liked someone else?"

Nino shaked his head from side to side. "Thaaat's not important... wait you already knew? I thought you didn't." 

Looking at each other with suspicion, they stayed in silence. Adrien crossed his arms as he raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?" Adrien kept his persuasive look on his face, knowing Nino was a really bad liar. "Don't you plan to tell me Nino?" 

Bitting his hip, Nino rolled his brown eyes and looked elsewhere. If there was something he could never do, was to lie at Adrien, The blond model could be quite persuasive sometimes. "Okay okay dude!" Nino finally soften, looking back at his friend who was laughing now that he had what he wanted. "Alya just told me a couple of things, but they are not important. Right now, Alya and I are kinda focused on finding out who this Mystery dude is." He sighted, it was not a good idea to tell Adrien that Marinette liked her before. That probably was not important right now...Or so Nino thinks. "And when I say Alya and me I actually mean, Alya wants to drag me with her in this problem." 

With a chuckle, Adrien responded. "Yup, sounds like her." Before Adrien could ask more, his limo was already there. The Bodyguard glanced in the mirror, looking straight at Adrien and his friend.

"Looks like our time is up huh?" The now freezing Nino said. "But hey, You can come to my house anytime." 

Feeling a bit sadden, Adrien extended his hand in a fist to fist bump. Quickly noticing the movement, Nino reacted and fist bumped him. "Yeah..."

And like that, Adrien left to sit on the limo, sitting on the expensive leather seats that were inside the white vehicle, he closed the door to then wave at his friend from the window. It wasn't long before the gorilla started the vehicle and left. The young Agreste, was saddened because he couldn't hang with Nino most of the time outside the school thanks to his strict father. 

 

He was tired.

 

Tired of this life style.

 

Tired of his father.

 

Tired of everything.

 

But he knew he didn't have the guts to change how things were. He was more than lucky to be able to assist to school, to make friends and to be treated like a normal person....Well, kinda. He was still a famous model after all. And to risk everything because of his anger was probably not the wisest thing to do. At least he had his powers with him, and Plagg mainly. Even though Plagg was always annoying and naggy. 

Opening his backpack, he looked down to check out on his troublesome kwami. Surprisingly, he wasn't there. "Huh?" Adrien ran his hands in top of the coats pockets to check if the little kitty was hidden there. But he didn't feel a thing. "P-Plagg?" he whispered, while turning the backpack around and throwing all the stuff to the vehicle's floor. but there was nothing there. Just notebooks, pencils, his tablet and some empty cans of Camembert. Adrien was about to flip out, but before panicking, he noticed a little note inside one of the cheese envelopes. Adrien quickly grabbed the envelope and read. "Oh no..." It was clear, that whatever the little note said...was not good.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~POV CHANGE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Marinette entered her room, taking out her pink scarf and placing it gently in top of her little sofa-bed she had in her room. Taking out her coat, she couldn't help but hearing a squeaky voice inside her purse, but it was quite not as squeaky as Tikki's. With an raised eyebrow, Marinette opened her purse. 

"Don't be stupid" Tikki exclamed to a black little cat-like kwami besides her, as she tried to push him off with her little red hands. 

"Agh Just listen to meee" Plagg whined as he tried to get closer to Tikki. 

But they both suddenly stopped as they noticed Marinette had opened the purse. The blue eyed girl looked completely shoocked. Why was another kwami in her home now? 

The black kwami flew out of the purse as fast as he could and threw himself to her cheek, quickly bitting Marinette."A-AH!! W-who is this Tikki!" she pulled Plagg off her cheek by his tail, with help of Tikki, who began to hold him tightly so he couldn't escape. 

"AGHHH Listen to meee! Gosh!" Plagg whinned as he fought off Tikki, so he could brake free.

Rubbing her red cheek, bitten by a miniature little cat, Marinette stood up, giving a good shake to herself to make sure this wasn't all a dream. "Marinette, calm down." Tikki spoke gently and confident, looking way too comfortable with the situation.

"D-do you know him?" Mari said while staring at the little Plagg who was hissing at her.

"This dumb cat?" The red little kwami hitted Plagg's head to make him stop growling and hissing at the poor and confused Marinette. "He's Chat Noir's kwami." 

Plagg looked at Tikki with a hateful frown, but she just kept looking foward. 

What did all of this meant? Mari sure had the worst of luck. How could Chat's kwami be with her... In her house!!! She had no Idea how to give him back his kwami and neither she wanted to see him... Not now, not soon. Her heart wasn't prepared for it. She knew Chat Noir was mad with her... Mad? He was pissed...Furious.... Never in their partnership she had made Chat so mad that he would ignore her. 

"Uhm hello?! I'm right here?" Plagg kept whining, but Marinette and Tikki kept talking and chose to ignore him.

"Yes but what's he doing here?!" Marinette's body began to tremble and her eyes looked at the cat kwami more closely, analyzing him with her huge blue eyes. Making Plagg a bit flustered while he kept hissing.

Tikki laughed as she saw Plagg's reaction. 

"He's just here to create a mess." Tikki said, while Marinette nodded, eager to hear more.

"Oh I see... Wait!? So you left Chat Noir alone?" Marinette asked, finally focusing on Plagg once again. "Go back to him."

"Nu-uh. I reuse." The little black kwami was finally free of Tikki's grip, and turning around, he pouted. "I need to fix something first."

Confused, both Tikki and Marinette looked at eachother. 

"Fix what?" Tikki asked, while flying infront of Plagg to capture his attention. 

But Plagg stayed quiet, leaving Tikki no choice either than to pull his cheek .

"O-ouch! Alright alright!" The little cat flew away from Tikki, hiding behind Marinette now. "I want to change the rules." He stated, not giving any useful details.

Mari stared confused, but as she looked at her kwami once again, Tikki looked like she actually understood what he meant by rules.

"But Plagg..." Tikki began to sound more serious now, but before saying anything more... She nodded. "Alright."

Marinette stood up there dumbly, not sure of what they were talking about. Not sure if to say something, she opened her mouth to speak, but stopped as she heard her mother's voice coming from the living room.

"Marinette!" Her mom's voice got closer to the door now. 

Startled, Marinette did some hand signals to both Tikki and Plagg, pointing to Tikki's hideout that was in her desk. The two kwami's flew as fast as they could, and hid just in time. 

Opening the door, Marinette's mom entered with a warm smile. "Oh, honey I made some shrimp soup, do you want some?"

Marinette quickly shaked her hands in denial. "N-no! It's alright."

Looking at her daughter with a worried face, she continued speaking. "Well, I'll leave some for you in the fridge. Oh, and go and take out the trash, your Dad and I are busy down in the bakery with all these clients. Christmas season always makes everyone merry~!" 

Mari couldn't help but to laugh nervously. "A-alright. But I'll take out the trash later."

Fading away her smile, Marinette's mother looked at her seriously. "You said that exact same thing last week Marinette. Go down and do it, it won't take long sweetheart."

Sighting, she grabbed her scarf and a hoodie and putted them on, so she could walk outside of her room to do what her mother ordered her.

"That's my girl" Sabrine patted Marinette's head, planting a sweet kiss on Marinette's forehead.

 

 

Walking out of the living room, and then passing by the kitchen, Marinette took the bag that was placed in the kitchen's trash can. Making a knot in the upper part of the bag, she began to carry it outside,walking down some stairs and then through the backdoor. She opened the door with struggle.

"Fuck this stinks." She said to herself, while kicking the door open and walking though it.

The trash bin was placed just there, behind her house in the alley. She walked there and threw the bag inside with all her might. She was surely annoyed by silly house chores like this. Right now, there was more important things to do... Like give back Plagg to his owner.....Chat Noir. The thought of it made her heart to stop. She was not ready... not ready at all.

Turning around, Marinette let out a faint scream, but someone covered her mouth. It was a guy, dressed in black from head to toes, including a black hoodie that covered up his hair too. The man, who seemed young was wearing a black mask that covered half of his face, Making visible his lips and green wide eyes. The man pressed his hand against Marinette's mouth tightly, but not strongly enough to hurt her, only to shut her up. With his other hand, he held her by the waist, to make sure she didn't run away. 

"Shh" The pale guy tried to calm her down, but before he could say anything more, Marinette raised her leg, not sure where she was aiming, and kicked him strong enough to make him fall to the floor while covering his crotch and making weird noises because of the pain. This gave her the time to run away.

"M-Marinette wait!" The familiar voice's echo rang in the alley. And before she went too far, Marinette heard him.

Stopping, the dark haired girl took deep strong breaths in to calm down her uneasy heart.

"Chat..?"

**Author's Note:**

> The story is posted on wattpad as well under the username of YumeVB. Leave your honest comment here pls.


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